LEGO® Architecture 21042 Statue of Liberty: The new parts

Packed with interesting techniques, LEGO® Architecture 21042 Statue of Liberty is my favourite build of the year so far. Today, I'm going to examine the parts that have been provided in new colours in this new set and show a couple of cool techniques that the designer has used.

Inside Tour 2018 exclusive set

Spoiler alert! If you don't want to know what this year's LEGO® Inside Tour set is, look away now. Because Márton Ferenci was fortunate enough to attend and has given us this brief insight into the set, which can now be revealed to the public.

Being part of the LEGO Inside Tour is part luck, part madness. 3000 people signed up and a lucky 170-ish got chosen. Each year the participants receive a limited edition set, the subject of which is handpicked by the Kristiansen family to commemorate this special occasion.

The box gets handed out at the end of an intense 2.5 day journey deep into the real LEGO “land”. After learning so much about moulding, visiting the factory and meeting the LEGO designers (above), it is a true highlight to be given one of these.

LEGO® Jurassic World 2018: The new elements

Having opened all the Jurassic World sets to explore the new dinosaurs and re-colours of previously known dinosaurs, Elspeth De Montes turns her attention to the new elements within the 2018 range of LEGO® Jurassic World sets (excluding 75927 Stygimoloch Breakout and 75928 Blue's Helicopter Pursuit, which contain no new elements.)

75930 Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate

The largest set in the Jurassic World 2018 line-up is 75930 Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate with 1,019 pieces. There are five new elements that make their debut in a new colour and a few notable elements that are still relatively rare or new for 2018.

LEGO® Technic set review: 42083 Bugatti Chiron

Alexandre Campos has already examined all the new parts in the LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron and now turns his attention to the incredible build process.

As mentioned previously, 42083 Bugatti Chiron is divided into six numbered boxes, each with numbered bags, and this is a godsend. Having to search among 3599 parts at once would be maddening. Some instruction steps are also extra helpful with the build, especially when Earth Blue [TLG]/ Dark Blue [BL] elements are involved: a red outline marks newly-added elements. Still, make no mistake: this is an intricate and complicated build, and often it's hard to know what goes where, and easy to make mistakes.

LEGO® Technic parts review: 42083 Bugatti Chiron

It's a beast in so many ways –  the LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron contains 3599 pieces and is priced at £329.99 / $349.99 / 369.99€. We're celebrating it at New Elementary with a series of three posts this week and to start, Alexandre Campos is opening the box and seeing what new and recoloured parts lie within.

After the success of the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, it was kind of expected that The LEGO Group would launch a second "Technic Expert" set. The 42056 raised the bar on size, complexity, and authenticity for LEGO Technic. Not to mention it introduced many new elements that would see wide usage across the rest of the Technic line, such as the Technic Steering Wheel Hub Holder with 2 Pin Holes and 2 Axle Holes (Design ID 23801), the Technic Axle Connector 3L (Design ID 26287), or the Technic Panel Curved 7 x 3 with 2 Pin Holes through Panel Surface (Design ID 24119).

After a period of secrecy and rumours, LEGO Technic set 42083 Bugatti Chiron was unveiled on 1st June 2018 at the LEGO House, with the presences of the top brass from TLG, Bugatti, and the LEGO fan community, plus a real-life Chiron.

LEGO® Creator 10261 Roller Coaster

The fairground sub-theme of LEGO® Creator continues in 2018 with the thrilling 10261 Roller Coaster. Sven Franic has braved the ride to bring you info on all the new parts in this 4080-piece set, priced £299.99 / US$379.99 / 329.99€ and on general sale from 1 June 2018.

When the new roller coaster tracks were first introduced last autumn, I think we all knew TLG hadn’t made six new elements purely for the Joker Manor. It was just a matter of time before we saw the first ever official roller coaster set.

Even with specialized track and car elements, the 10261 Roller Coaster is a feat of mathematical LEGO engineering. All that geometry serving both structural and aesthetic functions had to be legal, which looks simpler than it actually is.  In terms of overall dimensions, I think this is the largest LEGO set ever. Besides, it is a sort of milestone in the LEGO System.




Brickheadz 41597 Go Brick Me

The LEGO® Brickheadz theme seems to have been a huge success for The LEGO Group. We sent a copy of 41597 Go Brick Me to Chris McVeigh and asked him to... er... go brick himself.

41597 Go Brick Me asks you to build yourself as a BrickHeadz. It’s the best kind of LEGO set; one that provides structure through a branching building guide, but ultimately nudges you outside the lines. The template for your BrickHeadz is you, and that means the end result is always unique.

21036 Arc De Triomphe

We head back to 2017 today with 21036 Arc De Triomphe, from the perspective of someone who's never bought a LEGO® Architecture set before; Jay Phoenix, who can be found on Flickr and Twitter.

So, first off I’ve got a bit of a guilty confession to make – even though LEGO Architecture’s been around for a decade now and had over 40 sets released… I’ve never actually been interested enough in the theme itself to actually buy any of ‘em before. As someone who’s always been more sucked in by minifig-scale themes like City, Friends, Creator and occasionally more action-y ones like Ninjago, Architecture has always been one of those things I’ve occasionally seen on the shelves, gone “Oh, that looks alright I guess” and continued on my merry way.

So when Tim handed me a shiny new copy of 21036 Arc De Triomphe to rebuild for here, I had a little bit of a think about how exactly I should approach it. Instead of just rebuilding the model into something else like last time, I decided to do a lil’ review of the set itself as an insight into the mind of an ‘Architecture Virgin’, as such (also, note to self: never use the phrase ‘Architecture Virgin’ ever again).

LEGO® Jurassic World 2018: Elementosaurus Part 2

For her second post about the latest LEGO® dinosaurs, Elspeth De Montes looks at the new 2018 versions of previous moulds, comparing them to the original themes, and goes even further back in LEGO history to dabble in freakish genetic experiments... 

The series of tie-in LEGO® sets released ahead of this year’s summer blockbuster Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom feature a toothsome line-up of LEGO dinosaurs.

Part 1 of our review introduced the three new full-size dinosaurs - Carnotaurus, Indoraptor and Stygimoloch - and now we will take a look at the remaining dinosaurs, as there are some interesting recolours of old friends.

LEGO® Jurassic World 2018: Elementosaurus Part 1

Elspeth De Montes goes dino-crazy today with LEGO® sets from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which are now available.

The LEGO Group have released a series of tie-in sets ahead of this year’s summer blockbuster. In total there are 12 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom sets being released and, in addition to these, 75932 Jurassic Park Velociraptor Chase allows you to re-enact the iconic ‘velociraptor in the kitchen’ scene from the original movie. We have been able to review the parts and dinosaurs from the eight main sets (the other five being two Juniors sets, two Duplo sets and a BrickHeadz set). We will be taking a look at all the new elements included at a later date, but first let’s take a look at the return of the LEGO Jurassic beasts.

LEGO® Ideas 21314 TRON: Legacy

The latest LEGO® Ideas set 21314 TRON: Legacy is available from March 31, 2018 priced £29.99/ US$34.99/ 34.99€. It depicts the iconic race between two light cycles and is based on the 2010 film which is a sequel to the technically ambitious 1982 original.

The original submission, by fans BrickBrosUK from Devon, proposed one light cycle and minifigure. Even though this has been expanded to include another light cycle and two further minifigures, it's still a small set at just 230 pieces. And of course, you are building the same vehicle twice. Thankfully it's an ingenious build; clever in its compactness and some interesting connections. But as ever, we are here to discuss the parts!

2018 LEGO® Speed Champions: Under the bonnet

Sven Franic has early access to the LEGO® Speed Champions range for 2018, which are now available at BrickLink. He's put them together and, more importantly, pulled them apart to reveal the new pieces you'll find in 75884 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback, 75885 Ford Fiesta M-Sport WRC, 75886 Ferrari 488 GT3 "Scuderia Corsa", 75887 Porsche 919 Hybrid, 75888 Porsche 911 RSR and 911 Turbo 3.0, and 75889 Ferrari Ultimate Garage.

Speed Champions is an in-house LEGO® theme featuring external licences by various car manufacturers. The theme’s fourth year in production is a testament to its great success.  The 2018 line up is represented by sets licensed by Ford Motor Company, and two long-running IP partners of TLG: Ferrari N.V and Porsche AG.

I’ve been a gearhead all my life, and I remember trying to recreate real cars in minifig-scale models with the bricks I had as a kid. Cars like this at the time would have made my mouth soar from swooshing and vrooming.



10260 Downtown Diner: New parts and colours

After our Tealicious appetiser looking at all the Teal parts in LEGO® Creator Expert 10260 Downtown Diner, your main course of new parts is now on the menu. So slip into a comfortable position in that little red diner stool because your waitress Elspeth De Montes is scooting towards your table to serve up new LEGO elements.

Now before we start, I know we don’t normally focus much on minifigures here at New Elementary but in the case of Downtown Diner I must make an exception. There’s no easy way to say this so I’m just going to get it off my chest - the boxer in this set has the most ridiculously bouffant hairstyle I have ever seen in a boxing ring. Can you pick out the boxer’s hairstyle? Hint: I can only assume that Jamie Berard must have won a bet for using this hairstyle on a bloke!

LEGO® Ideas 21313 Ship in a Bottle

Sven Franic found some surprising things inside LEGO® Ideas 21313 Ship in a Bottle. The set has 962 pieces and is now available, for an RRP of £69.99 / US$69.99 / 69.99€. 

Another weird and wonderful set has recently emerged from the LEGO® Ideas platform. A team effort from fan designer Jake Sadovich and LEGO model designer Tiago Catarino went through what seems like a tough job: adapting a glass bottle into a feasible construction for a set.

10260 Downtown Diner: Teal-icious Appetiser

Elspeth De Montes will be dividing up her review of LEGO® Creator Expert 10260 Downtown Diner into delicious chunks. The set has 2480 pieces and is priced at £129.99/ US$169.99/ 149.99€/ 1399.00 DKK, but you have the chance of winning the set if you enter our building competition, Kill Teal (Volume 2)!

January 1st saw the release of LEGO® Creator Expert 10260 Downtown Diner.  The annual release of the next Modular Building is always a highly anticipated event, and this year’s offering is certainly an eye-catching model based on first appearances.

This first part of the review will focus on the comeback colour.  Yes, that famous LEGO colour known as Teal [[LDraw and Peeron] / Bright Bluish Green [TLG] / Dark Turquoise [BL] has arisen from its untimely death by the hands of Mark Stafford back in 2006.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the beautiful Bright Bluish Green water and bathe in the lush Teal bricks supplied in Downtown Diner.

70922 The Joker Manor

Somewhere in among designing his latest range of gorgeous Christmas ornaments, Chris McVeigh managed to find the time to crack open THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE 70922 The Joker Manor for us and, having assembled its 3444 pieces, dissected it again to locate all the exciting new and recoloured LEGO elements - including its completely new rollercoaster system! The set is now available priced £249.99 / US$269.99 / 269.99€.

The Joker Manor is a sprawling set that imagines Wayne Manor has been overtaken and aggressively remodelled by the Joker (as seen in THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE). It’s a brilliant display piece with a glitzy, colourful entrance, oversized spring-loaded boxing gloves, a garish, glaring tower, and naturally, giant “The Joker” branding. However, the real showstopper is the rollercoaster that encircles the manor. With this set LEGO introduces an all-new car and track system that is sure to appear in many upcoming product lines, from City to Creator Expert.

In this article I’ll closely examine the new rollercoaster elements, highlight other new parts, and discuss interesting recolours and reissues.

10259 Winter Village Holiday Station

Can we talk about Christmas yet? I guess so; LEGO® Creator Expert 10259 Winter Village Holiday Station



 has been available for over a month now (902 pieces, priced £74.99 / US$79.99 / 69.99€). Today, Sven Franic explores the new parts included and gets inspired to build.

A year since we saw the 10254 Winter Village Holiday Train, presumably picking up passengers randomly along the line, a train station is finally here to restore some order to the holiday chaos.



Although the Winter Village Holiday sets are part of the Creator Expert line, there isn't all that much expert in them. This is also acknowledged by the 12+ marking on the box compared to most other sets in the line which are 16+.

70620 NINJAGO City

Today, Chris McVeigh (powerpig) reviews the fantastic new range of LEGO® parts found in 70620 NINJAGO City, the largest of the sets from The LEGO NINJAGO Movie range, which went on sale this month priced at £259.99 / US$299.99 / 299.99€.

At 4867 parts, NINJAGO City is one of the biggest LEGO® sets ever. It's visually rich, incredibly detailed, and great fun to build.

The city itself is divided into three sections, coinciding with three hefty building guides. Level 1: The Old World is built atop a murky waterway. On that level you’ll find a fish market, robot maintenance room, and the base of the elevator. Level 2: The Street is a busy pedestrian area that is home to shops and services, including a comic book store, clothing store, and crab kitchen. Up on Level 3: The High Rise, you’ll find Lloyd’s and Misako’s shared apartment, a rooftop sushi restaurant, and a luxury bathroom.

In this article I’ll discuss new parts and how they’re used, highlight some of the more interesting recolours, and then look at the set’s clever roofing techniques.

Gone fishin'

Respect to Sven Franic. He received New Elementary's review copy of the LEGO® Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store, on Friday and by Monday he had delivered me a spectacular and thorough review of the parts, minifigures and colours in this huge and gorgeous new set. As if that wasn't enough, he had to leave for Slovenia that day... so, just in case the review needed more work, he took the set with him! Well, no more work was required but Sven has nevertheless sent us some "fishing holiday" pics.

The early bird catches the fish

Coming 1st September 2017, LEGO® Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store has 2,049 pieces - the highest number ever for a LEGO Ideas set - and will retail for £139.99 / US$149.99 / 149.99€. Sven Franic is here to tell you all about the colours, parts and minifigures you will find in this stunning fan-designed set.

I remember the day the LEGO® Ideas review results arrived with the news that the Old Fishing Store by fan builder Robert Bontenbal (RobenAnne) would be made into a set. A lot of us hoped for it, but never thought such a large project would be deemed feasible by the LEGO Ideas team. A particularly attractive feature was the colour scheme in Sand Green and the inclusion of so many accessories and animals, most notably the seagull which was only briefly featured with one of the characters in the 2013 collectible minifigures series 10.