LEGO® Ideas review: 21320 Dinosaur Fossils

Back in early 2017, Fan Designer Jonathan Brunn launched his idea "Dinosaurs Fossils Skeletons - Natural History Collection" on the LEGO® Ideas platform. Some two and a half years later, two dinosaur skeletons and a pterosaur reptile have made it to the final product, with a little extra surprise or two included.

Announced today, 21320 Dinosaur Fossils has 910 pieces and is priced at US$59.99/ €59.99/ UK£54.99 and will be available from 1 November, 2019. So let's brush off the dirt and uncover the bones of this latest Ideas set.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's star-stuff

Yes, our completed LEGO® Parts Festival came back again! But it definitely finishes today, and what better way than with a creation by Duncan Lindbo who has really pushed the boat out with this festival. 

Everything is made of star-stuff, to paraphrase the late, great Carl Sagan. In the case of this MOC, that’s not just true in an abstract cosmic sense, it’s true in a more literal “I used a bunch of the new star pieces”.

I was casting around for ideas when it dawned on me that because the stars (Design Plate, 4X4X2/3, No. 1 in Bright Yellow/ Yellow – 6248804|39611) are two plates high, with a one plate high base and one plate high points, two columns of stars would mesh together easily. Throw a few meshed columns together, and they looked like the teeth of a gigantic shredder.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Ben Tritschler's Bone Fish

There's been a surprise rebirth of the LEGO® Parts Festival we ran in August and September! Two more models have just surfaced so we will bring them to you today and tomorrow, in advance of the next Parts Festival which kicks off very soon. Ben Tritschler (modestolus on Instagram and Flickr) was unfortunately unable to participate but has recently had time to create something. Ben is a member of the German online community RogueBricks and likes building all themes but recently has preferred Castle.

The first time I saw the shoulder pad, I knew I had to build a fish. The result is a a little scene in a museum and it shows the exhibit of the New Elementary Bone Fish – or to give it its Latin name: Nova Elementum Ossa Piscis.

LEGO® CITY review: 60234 People Pack - Fun Fair

While we tend not to to focus on minifigures heavily here at New Elementary, we often look at minifigure accessories, body wear and headgear as they can often be utilised within builds completely differently than being simple minifigure elements. 60234 People Pack Fun Fair (available at Amazon.com) was released this summer and contains enough interesting, new elements for us to take a closer look.

60234 People Pack Fun Fair contains 183 elements, 14 minifigures and is priced at  £34.99 / $39.99 / 39.99€.

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 October 2019

Every three months, new LEGO® elements are added to the Build a Minifigure towers in LEGO Stores worldwide and recently The LEGO Group have started including some pieces in exclusive colours or with decorations not found in sets. Erik H. (HokayBricks) has scrutinised October's offerings for you!

The parts described below are all completely new – they have not appeared in any officially released set prior to the 1 October 2019 Quarter 4 (Q4) batch of new parts for Build a Minifigure (BAM) Towers. All previous iterations of the parts have been referenced along with their origins.

LEGO® Hidden Side review: 70423 Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000

Continuing our examination of the new LEGO® Hidden Side theme, Ben Davies (ProfessorBrickkeeper) takes a look at 70423 Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 which is now available priced £54.99 / $59.99 / 59.99€.

For all the different LEGO® buses produced over the years, there’s been surprisingly few depictions of school buses. Historically, LEGO has instead opted to reproduce public transport and tour buses. With the launch of LEGO Hidden Side 70423 Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000, they have finally rectified the situation. The Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 is modeled off of a typical American school bus, retrofitted with various gizmos and gadgets to help heroes Jack, Parker, and J.B. defeat the ghosts of the Hidden Side.

Old Elementary: Insectoids

Duncan Lindbo returns today with another look at a weird LEGO® part from history and how it might be used in your creations.

Today, we’re going to venture back into the dark days of the 1990s once again and take a look at some more parts from the Insectoids theme. Last time, we looked at some of the properties of the Insectoid wings; this time we’re looking at the legs. Bug legs! Weird biomechanical big legs!

Old Elementary: The 1x2 plate with the arm that moved

Today's look back into LEGO® part history comes from Felix Stiessen, an avid LEGO enthusiast from Austria who is always interested in discovering new and interesting techniques to exploit the unique geometry of certain LEGO bricks.

Making its first appearance in 1984’s LEGO Castle range, the basic design of the LEGO® 1x2 plate with a vertical bar attachment has now been around for 35 years. However, in 2008 LEGO introduced a subtle design change that might have gone unnoticed by many.

This article will explore the difference between Design ID 4623 - Plate W. Hook 1X2, and Design ID 88072 - Plate 1X2 W. Vertical Schaft (sic).

How the LEGO® element team designed the new gear wheels

We’ve really enjoyed this latest Parts Festival, which now draws to a close, and we are so grateful to the talented artists who gave us their time and creative talents for everyone’s pleasure; in no particular order – Jessica Farrell, Inthert, Jaap Bijl, Duncan Lindbo, Samuel Pister, Sarah Beyer and Jaroslaw Walter.

To complete the festival we will take another look at what are arguably the most noticeable parts in the selection; the new gear wheel plates that we affectionately named ‘splat gears’. You may recall back in March, Elspeth wrote a fantastic post listing the different kinds of LEGO gears through history, including an examination of the new splat gear family.

It seems LEGO enjoyed her post too! – we later received this fascinating email from Marinus Jasperse on behalf of the Element Design Platform Team at the LEGO Group about the development of the new gear family...