Alt Star Wars: Kev Levell's mothership and fighter

We set Kevin Levell an epic task: to come up with his own original build using only the parts found in the latest wave of LEGO® Star Wars sets. That's seven sets with over 3000 parts at his disposal! Kevin shows us today what he's come up with and describes the creative process.

The challenge was to build something from the newest wave of LEGO® Star Wars sets but throughout the building process, one of the biggest temptations for me has been to sneakily/subtly add to the available selection of parts from my collection. I have remained disciplined, using only the parts contained within sets 75206, 75207, 75208, 75209, 75210, 75211 and 75212.

I had a number of ideas I wanted to explore, and I experimented extensively with various building techniques along the way in order to try to realise some of them. What I have finished up with for my main build is a long way from where I started out.

Sustainable LEGO® elements: 40320 Plants from Plants

Here at New Elementary we usually talk about new shapes and colours of LEGO® elements but today we’re looking at a new material from which some botanical elements are now being made. By 2030, The LEGO Group (TLG) intend to use sustainable materials in all of their core products and packaging.

This article is a collaboration between Are J. Heiseldal who met TLG employees Matt Whitby (Environmental Responsibility Engagement) and Bistra Andersen (Senior Materials Platform Manager) at LEGO Fan Media Days in Billund, Tim Johnson, and Elspeth De Montes who has her hands on the limited edition gift-with-purchase set, 40320 Plants from Plants.

LEGO plastics

The first bricks made in 1949 were made from cellulose acetate, which warps over time. After some research by plastics companies, TLG replaced it in 1963 with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, used to this day.

Press conference for LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron

Last week, on the final day of the LEGO® Fan Media Days in Billund, a special press conference was held for the release of LEGO Technic set 42083 Bugatti Chiron with designers from both Bugatti and the LEGO Technic teams.

On the podium, from left to right, are:

• Jachin Schwalbe (JS), Head of Chassis Development, Bugatti
• Achim Anscheidt (AA), Bugatti Design Director

• Aurélien Rouffiange (AR), LEGO Designer

• Andrew Woodman (AW), LEGO Technic Senior Design Manager


AFOLs used this unique opportunity to ask some interesting questions about the design of both the car and the set, and Are J. Heiseldal has transcribed the most interesting responses for you here.

LEGO® Fan Media Days 2018: What happened

Thanks to over 30 wonderful New Elementary readers who gave generously to our GoFundMe campaign, we were able to send Are J. Heiseldal to LEGO® Fan Media Days 2018 in Billund, Denmark this week.  In reverse chronological order, here's a taste of what happened and what interviews you can expect to read on New Elementary in the coming months!

LEGO TECHNIC 42083 Bugatti Chiron

On Friday the new Technic supercar for 2018 was announced in an exciting press event at LEGO House.

LEGO® Ideas Pop-Up Book: exclusive Samuel Johnson interview

We are all on tenterhooks awaiting further news of the upcoming LEGO® Ideas Voltron set. But yesterday the LEGO Ideas team instead announced the results of their latest review, which examined seven successful fan creations to decide which would be released as a real LEGO product later this year. Spoiler alert if you've not watched the reveal video... it's going to be Pop-Up Book, by Grant Davis and Jason Allemann.

Image © Jason Allemann/ Grant Davis

Thanks to the help of New Elementary readers, our reporter Are J. Heiseldal was inside LEGO HQ in Billund yesterday, for LEGO Fan Media Days, where he spoke to Senior Designer Samuel Johnson about Pop-Up Book and the other fan creations that didn't make it.

Fan Media Days are approaching!

I'm excited to report that because our GoFundMe campaign is going so well, our first goal is a certainty: to send a reporter to the LEGO® Fan Media Days in Billund, Denmark in a couple of weeks' time! This is a three-day event is an initiative of Kim Ellekjaer Thomsen from The LEGO Group's AFOL Engagement department, who wanted to provide fan media with the same opportunities that the mainstream media enjoy: most importantly a day-long interview junket with staff from various LEGO themes (like this fine bunch from Bionicle in 2016).

Shanghai Pete: New turtles, weapons and ships

Regular readers will know that Peter Reid loves fresh turtle. He's been building them since 2004 and his LEGO® Ideas Exo Suit set also included an official – and legal – version of the MkIII M364 Turtle. It’s one of this Neo-Classic Space fan’s most popular designs and as the years pass by, the key parts to build the turtle become available in new colours. Peter always seizes on these opportunities to add to his turtle army, so when the 2018 LEGO Architecture set 21039 Shanghai introduced the 3x3 radar dish in Bright Reddish Violet [TLG]/Magenta [BL] (Element ID 6217587|Design ID 43898), we knew we just had to get Peter a copy to see what he’d make this time. Click/tap images to view larger.

“The Shanghai set is great. It's got five magenta 3x3 dishes, which means I can finally make magenta robot turtles. As per tradition I've experimented with a couple of heavy weapons: the Twin Heavy Blaster and Armoured Quad Cannon.”

The History of the Space Turtle

The best-known LEGO® model by British AFOL Peter Reid is his Exo Suit, but everyone who bought the official LEGO Ideas version, 21109 Exo Suit, knows his Space Turtle just as well. The turtle has been around much longer, having appeared in the bestselling book he co-created with Tim Goddard – LEGO Space: Building the Future, as well as thrilling thousands of children at LEGO fan shows as a part of his extraordinary Turtle Factory display piece.

We are going to reveal a new turtle exclusive for you here at New Elementary but for context, let’s first look back at the history of the space turtle and ask Peter to take us inside his universe where the robot turtles are hard-working, loyal mechanoids, created by the manufacturing giant Anodyne Systems. The M364 turtle has been deployed on numerous Federation outposts where they perform a wide range of duties, and upgraded M450 units are widely used throughout the corporate security sector.

London AFOLs: Abstract

We took a box of new LEGO® pieces to a meet up of London AFOLs for some fast-paced building adventures. London AFOLs meet in a pub every second Monday of the month, and new and international visitors are always welcome. Check out the group on meetup.com/LondonAFOLs. 

Last time we shared some of the real-world objects the builders made; today it's the abstract builds. People had just 20 minutes to create something using some new LEGO parts, some elements that have recently come in new colours, and London AFOLs' general brick stock. 

Love this simple usage of  Brick 1X1X1 2/3 W/ Vert Knobs in Bright Red [TLG]/Red [BL] (Element ID 6187620|Design ID 32952) to create a spiral. Those 1x4 tiles are Bright Green (6195267|2431); these are back again having briefly appeared in 2012/13. They come in the exclusive set 21037 LEGO House which also introduces 1x1 tiles in this colour!

"Kill Teal" - the winners

It's all over! 54 builders submitted 79 entries that imagined how the newly returned LEGO® colour called teal could be killed off again, given that Mark Stafford's last attempt in 2006 clearly failed. Here are all the entries in one image:

Which of course means we had to judge winners; always a painful task but especially difficult when the entries all excelled in different ways - their originality, humour, clever ideas and of course nice piece usage. Thank you so much to everyone that entered, creating so many smiles for us and New Elementary readers. Now read on to find out who was picked for the prizes...

"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 7)

Today we present the final entries we received in our contest where we asked you to imagine how LEGO® designer and AFOL Mark Stafford might kill off Teal again, now that this colour is back in the LEGO palette once more. Missed the previous entries? See them here.

KillTeal2

By Ralf Langer

A rather unobtrusive way :-)

"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 6)

For a bit of fun, we asked you to imagine how Teal might be "killed" again, now that this colour is back in the LEGO palette once more. We received 79 fun entries and are publishing a few every day, in the order they were received, and reveal the winners next week. Missed the previous entries? See them here.

The extremes people will go to...

By Tom (Inthert)

"I'm not crazy, you're crazy!!! Its reappearance in the Downtown Diner only proves my theory! Discontinuing teal wasn't enough! It must be removed from the archives to destroy it once and for all!"
- Extract from 'My Life as a Lego Conspiracy Theorist'.

"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 5)

We asked you to imagine how LEGO® designer and AFOL Mark Stafford might kill off Teal again, now that this colour is back in the LEGO palette once more. We received 79 entries and are publishing a few every day, in the order they were received, and reveal the winners in just a few days' time. Missed the previous entries? See them here.

Killing the reputation

By Igor R

I think we can all agree that casually phasing out a Lego colour is no way to go and is extremely unethical. What must be done is the colour's reputation has to be destroyed first, after which people themselves may demand to let go of the dreaded shade.

It just so happens that a maniacal angel dressed in Teal and allowed to run amok happens to be a great solution to the problem. Just make sure you add a dash of Purple (preferably of the firearm kind), and you're as good as done! Enjoy the show!

"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 4)

We asked you to imagine how LEGO® designer and AFOL Mark Stafford might kill off Teal again, now that this colour is back in the LEGO palette once more. We received 79 entries and are publishing a few every day, in the order they were received, and we reveal the winners next week. Missed the previous entries? See them here.

Teal: Into the Phantom Zone

By Daniele Alessandro Combatti

The year is 2024.

LEGO's continuous production of Teal mysteriously caused giving sentience to the newly-reintroduced colour; all bricks combined to form a humanoid, leaving a trail of destruction at the Danish HQ.

The higher-ups at the company tasked Mark Stafford himself to get rid of the monster, while still following their “no-weapons” policy, so there was only one tool suitable for the job: The Phantom Zone Projector. And a squad of purple paintballers for safety.

"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 3)

Now for the third collection of LEGO® models built by New Elementary readers (see the first here) where we asked you to imagine how LEGO designer and AFOL Mark Stafford might kill off this colour, now it is back in the LEGO palette once more. We reveal the judges' choices next week - but which do you like? Comment below!

Sweeping teal under the rug

By Simon Gebraad

With the help of Ryo, Mark Stafford sweaps teal under the rug. Ryo was very happy he could keep his hear, so helping Mark was no problem.

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"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 2)

Here is the second batch of LEGO® models built by New Elementary readers (see the first here) where we asked you to imagine how LEGO designer and AFOL Mark Stafford might kill off this colour now it is back in the LEGO palette once more. We reveal the winners next week - which would you like to win from this bunch?

Not this time Mr. Stafford, not this time...

By Andreas Lenander

Decided to go in a little different direction with this entry. Instead of Mr. Stafford having another go at killing teal as he pleases, I figured there had to be some resistance this time around. So as Mr. Stafford goes about killing teal all over again, figuring no one will be the wiser, a few brave souls decide they have something to say about that.

*disclaimer: this in no way endorses the use of violence, alien or other, to prevent Mr. Stafford from killing teal again ;)

"Kill Teal" models (Vol. 1)

The time has come at last! We asked you to imagine how LEGO® designer and AFOL Mark Stafford might kill off Teal again, now that this colour is back in the LEGO palette once more. We received 79 entries! We will publish a few every day, in the order they were received, and reveal the winners next week. Enjoy, and be sure to tell us your favourites in the comments.

I wanna kill you... again!

By Devid VII

In a secret room in LEGO factory Mark is trying to color the last teal pieces... I wanna kill you again!

London AFOLs: Real-world

We had a box of LEGO® pieces left over from our Skærbæk Parts Festival (which Jason Briscoe kindly drove back to London, thanks Jase!) and so we took them to a meet up of London AFOLs, for more building adventures. London AFOLs are - you guessed it - a bunch of adult fans of LEGO who meet in London. In a pub! It's very friendly and informal, and new and international visitors are always welcome. They meet on the second Monday of every month, so check out the group on meetup.com/LondonAFOLs. 

Over three posts, we will show you just a fraction of what was built that evening. Today we start with some real-world objects the builders dreamt up. Our parts were added to London AFOLs' existing brick stock and head honcho Richard Selby had the idea of restricting build time to just 20 minutes! Then everyone would move tables to try out the different parts on offer. Many of the featured 'seed' parts from the festival had previously been gobbled up by Skærbæk builds, so you'll notice more of the supplementary parts from the festival in these builds. A lot of these were rare or new recolours of existing parts, so I will point some of these out as we go.

2017 Skærbæk Parts Festival: Cristiano Grassi and Oscar Cederwall

Two participants of our parts festival at Skærbæk Fan Weekend last September continued building with the new LEGO® pieces after they got home from Denmark.

Oscar Cederwall

Oscar was very interested in the strange Minecraft railway track piece, Plate 2X2, W/ Design in Reddish Brown (Element ID 6163991|Design ID 27928).

He pulled some crafty moves to set the whole of the interior of this flower box at 45°.

2017 Skærbæk Parts Festival: Techniques

Welcome back to our Parts Festival where we gave 60 LEGO® fans an hour to make whatever they liked using a range of new LEGO elements as 'seed' parts for their constructions.

For our parts festivals we also encourage builders to make 'tablescraps' - little things that aren't models, but might have an interesting technique or use a new part in a clever way. For the final visit to our Denmark workshop, we present some of these tablescraps.

This roof uses two pentagonal pieces in Reddish Brown, Plate 2X2, W/ Design (Element ID 6163991|Design ID 27928) and Flat Tile2X3 W/Angle (6163184|22385), which appears only in the rather beautiful LEGO Dimensions Story Pack 71253 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Play the Complete Movie.)