LEGO® pieces, new set reviews, building techniques and brick model ideas
Over the last 700-or-so years, Himeji Castle has survived numerous wars and natural disasters. It's considered a national treasure in Japan and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This year it gets a new accolade: it's the latest LEGO® Architecture set! We already took a look at one of the elements appearing in 21060 Himeji Castle - the exciting "Pagoda Plate" - but today we take a look at the set in its entirety.
Jumping straight to the build of this sleek, meter-long aircraft was very tempting, however, LEGO® ICONS™ 10318 Concorde comes with two exclusive new curved pieces and a brand new slope, so a closer look at these amazing elements, with some insight from the LEGO element design team, must come first!
You know summer is officially over when The LEGO Group starts releasing winter-themed sets! Today I take a look at the smaller of two September 2023 LEGO® Friends sets: 41760 Igloo Holiday Adventure. For a set of modest size, it offers us a healthy number of recolours, rare parts and even two fascinating new moulds!
Has LEGO® Elves come back? No, but the solemn sobbing of fans missing that theme were probably heard by some set designers. LEGO® DREAMZzz™ has more than one set reminiscent of that theme, although equipped with traditional minifigures instead of mini-dolls. 71457 Pegasus Flying Horse is the most obvious of these sets. Is this mammoth-sized winged equine a worthy successor?
I've created a list showing all 434 new LEGO® elements added in September 2023, with links to which sets they come in so you can check for the ones you might be interested in. And for those of you who instead prefer our list of sets showing which contain the most new elements, click here.
You might have noticed it has taken us a while to bring you this month's list. What is going on?
Today, guest author Mansur 'Waffles' Soeleman takes a look at two smaller sets from the January 2023 wave of LEGO® Classic sets, 11027 Creative Neon Fun and 11028 Creative Pastel Fun, both of which offer a modest range of basic elements... with some exciting recolours.
 |
| Elements from 11027 Creative Neon Fun and 11028 Creative Pastel Fun. Skrunkle not included |
With the help of Skrunkle (a.k.a. LEGO® BIONICLE® Tahu from last year’s 11021 90 Years of Play), I will give an overview of 11027 & 11028's noteworthy bits as well as their main builds, and follow that with MOCs I made with my good friends Tim Goddard and Alec Hole.
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.
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.
The June 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends releases continues to fly the flag for thoughtfully-designed sets in vibrant colours, and 41747 Heartlake City Community Kitchen is no exception. It includes four characters from the theme's reboot, plus everyone's favourite grumpy kitty, Churro, who all love hanging out in a community-run café.
The set features an interesting selection of new, recoloured and rare elements, so let's take a look at them to see what's cooking in the kitchen.
As a kid, I was far more interested in the diverse members of the animal kingdom than cars. In our dreams the distinction is far less clear, as shown by these two LEGO® DREAMZzz™ sets, 71456 Mrs. Castillo's Turtle Van and 71458 Crocodile Car.
One is slow, stable and hippie-ish; the other is low, toothy and dangerous. Which one fares better? One, two... Go!