LEGO® ICONS™ set review: 10305 Lion Knights' Castle

Last week we examined the numerous new and rare elements that appear in the upcoming 10305 Lion Knights' Castle. Today, we'll be taking a look at the final model and some of the innovative building techniques that bring it to life.

LEGO® ICONS™ parts review: 10305 Lion Knights' Castle

To mark the occasion of their 90th corporate anniversary, The LEGO Group is releasing several sets this year which pay tribute to historical fan-favourite products. The largest of these anniversary sets is 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle, which will retail for £344.99 / US$399.99 / 399.99€ / AU$599.99 from 8 August 2022 / LEGO® VIP members 3 August. If you're buying or pre-ordering it, please consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'.

With 4514 pieces, this set review needs two articles! Today we begin by examining the new and interesting elements included. 

LEGO® Ideas set review: 21325 Medieval Blacksmith

Today Kev Levell (on Flickr) reviews the construction of LEGO® Ideas set 21325 Medieval Blacksmith, following his parts analysis yesterday. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. Products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

In medieval times, a blacksmith was a vital part of any village or town’s existence (as my kids and I discovered in our home learning while stuck in Lockdown 3). They were among a small group of craftsmen that no civilisation at the time could have done without. Usually working in iron and later steel, they would make all manner of things – nails, horseshoes, hinges, weapons, armour and hand tools, among many other practical and decorative things. A blacksmith would also be called upon to mend those same things too.

LEGO® Ideas parts review: 21325 Medieval Blacksmith

Kev Levell (on Flickr) today reviews the 2164 pieces in 21325 Medieval Blacksmith, the new LEGO® Ideas set priced US$149.99/ CA$199.99/ 146.99€/ £134.99/ AU$249.99. Buying it? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. Products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The LEGO Group is taking us on a journey in time. Back to Medieval times and, by association, back to the Classic Castle sets of the 1980s.

21325 Medieval Blacksmith is beautiful: this isn’t just a half-timbered house with a characteristically charming second-storey overhang, oh no, there is much more to it. The three floors are packed with authentic-looking details and clever features.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jessica Farrell's microscale

Another quick post for our Parts Festival, from Jessica Farrell today. Following her animals last week, we have a couple of microscale creations using some of the LEGO® parts we sent her. This is a good moment to explain that we don't send all the chosen builders exactly the same parts; for example Jessica received some of the new 3x3 Technic frames. 

BAVARIAN ICE CREAM CONE CASTLE

Invert the inverted printed cone piece (Cone 2X2X2, Inverted, No. 1 in Medium Nougat – 6261728|52116) and you get something that resembles the turrets of a fairytale castle. At least, it would if it was in microscale!

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's Castle Maze Puzzle

After his initial creation using the new LEGO® stud shooter, Duncan Lindbo returns with a wholly different idea, this time using the new gear wheel, as part of our ongoing Parts Festival.

When I got my shipment of Gear Wheel 4x4, Z10 (Design ID 35443) from New Elementary, it didn’t take me long to come up with an idea for a MOC that used them. With a diameter of six studs including the teeth, and four studs without, they’re big enough to have some space to work on without requiring a tremendous investment in parts. Also, the ones I got were Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray (Element ID 6252371), which works well for a variety of uses (they also come in Medium Azure, 6238331).

So I built a slide puzzle. Not just any slide puzzle, but one in which the pieces also rotate!

New versions of shield and mermaid tail

Recently, David Gregory of IndyLUG got in touch with us about a couple of interesting finds at LEGO® retail stores.

If you’re familiar with the Build-A-Minifigure bins at LEGO® retail stores, then you’ll be aware that those bins can sometimes be a source of otherwise rare minifig parts and accessories.  In June in Illinois and Indiana, USA I came across two parts that are from known molds, but have new printings – or lack thereof.

The first part is an unprinted version of the mermaid tail in Dark Green [TLG name]/ Green [BrickLink name] and the second is a new print on the large escutcheon shield.

PdC Parts Fest 2018: Half-cone roof tower

At Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal in June 2018, New Elementary ran a workshop where 25 builders were given 11 of the new LEGO® parts released in 2018 to experiment with. With the clock running, they used these in combination with general part stock (provided from the magnificent collection of Comunidade 0937) to create as many ideas, tablescraps, techniques and small MOCs as they could and we’re sharing the most interesting and useful ones with you.

Today it's the turn of the new textured half-cone called Roof 2x4x4 by TLG, and Tower Roof 2 x 4 x 4 Half Cone Shaped with Roof Tiles by BrickLink. Its Design ID is 35563 and we had it in Earth Blue [TLG]/Dark Blue [BL] (Element ID 6209807) which you will find capping off two LEGO Disney Princess castles this year: 41152 Sleeping Beauty's Fairytale Castle and 41154 Cinderella's Dream Castle. It also comes in Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/Dark Bluish Gray [BL] (6230280) in two LEGO Harry Potter Wizarding World sets: 75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow and 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall. You'll also find it in Dark Red (6223601) in LEGO Juniors 10762 Belle's Story Time.

The roof tiles on it are really quite beautiful I think. Petal-like and somewhat oversized, they do suggest other applications for the part – but what will our fan builders come up with?

2018 Parts Fest #1: James Pegrum's creepy tomb

We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts from 2018 to some fan builders, and in an occasional ‘parts festival’ series we are showing you the techniques and models they came up with. 

For some four years I've been plugging away on a certain history-themed project, a key feature being the size of each build which I've restricted to a 16x16-module base.  There's a large number of builds in the series and ideas have sometimes been hard to come by. So when the guys at New Elementary asked if I would like to play around with some new parts it spurred me on to build some new ideas and in the end the final model included each of the parts they gave me.

The final model comprises includes various separate builds and there are three I want to focus on: a base, some flowers and a stained glass window.

(CW:HP) LEGO® Fantastic Beasts: new bricks and bits of beasties

We thought that it was time to take a look at the remaining new elements in the LEGO® Fantastic Beasts sets that were released last month as part of the Wizarding World theme. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover HP sets. Read about our stance here.

There are two sets in the LEGO® Fantastic Beasts range: 75951 Grindlewald’s Escape which has 132 elements, two minifigures and a price tag of  US$19.99/£19.99/29.99€ and 75952 Newt’s Case of Magical Creatures with 694 elements, four minifigures and costs US$49.99/£44.99/49.99€.

New parts in 75951 Grindlewald’s Escape 

Within Grindlewald’s Escape, there are two elements that are completely new moulds and both belong to Thestral, the flying horse creature.

(CW:HP) LEGO® Harry Potter and the Enlightening Elements

Following on from our in depth look at the Wanderful Wand and Spurious Sprue, Elspeth De Montes takes a look at three enlightening new elements that appear in the recent LEGO® Harry Potter Wizarding World releases. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover HP sets. Read about our stance here.

Appearing for the first time is Lamp, No. 1 “lantern” in Titanium Metallic [TLG] / Pearl Dark Grey [BL] (Element ID 6234116 | Design ID 37776). This was actually introduced in three Elves sets released this summer: 41157 Rapunzel's Travelling Caravan, 41195 Emily & Noctura's Showdown and 41196 The Elvenstar Tree Bat Attack which all contain one Black lantern element and it also appears in the new 40312 Xtra Streetlamps polybag released this month.

(CW:HP) LEGO® Harry Potter: 71403 Hogwarts Castle

LEGO® have just released their second largest set ever, 71043 Hogwarts Castle, so Elspeth De Montes thought we would take a look at the new elements. With 6,020 parts and a £349.99/ US$399.99/ 399.99€ price tag, perhaps we should warn you to pop the kettle on a get yourself a cuppa as there are quite a few magical elements to uncover in this huge set. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover HP sets. Read about our stance here.

To start, there are three interesting new moulds all introduced in Brick Yellow [TLG]/ Tan [BL].

The first two are currently exclusive to 71043 Hogwarts Castle, and have an important role in depicting the microscale arched windows of Hogwarts’ Great Hall.

PdC Parts Fest 2018: Rounded Plate 1x2

At Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal in June 2018, New Elementary ran a 'parts festival' workshop where 25 builders were given 11 of the new LEGO® parts released in 2018 to experiment with. They used these in combination with general part stock (provided from the magnificent collection of Comunidade 0937) to create as many ideas, tablescraps, techniques and small MOCs as they could and we’re sharing the most interesting and useful ones with you. Huge thanks to Andrew Tipping for taking the photographs.

Today we look at the curved 1x2 plate which we chose in Black (Element ID 6210270 | Design ID 35480).

The ability to interconnect many of them into a chain allows for many interesting sculptural possibilities, like this balloon animal!

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New 2018 LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ parts

Today we have a parts review and building ideas from Tyler Clites and Sean Mayo, who are well-known around the AFOL world for their incredible building prowess - and recently they've started a new venture as the designers at BuildBetterBricks.com (aka “B3”). Great to have you here guys!

The latest 2018 wave of LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™sets are providing us builders with some incredible new elements. We are seeing a surge of Transparent Bright Green pieces in the ‘bad guy’ vehicles and new colors for some of the newer tile elements. But the most interesting pieces are those with the new molds we've never seen before. We've boiled this first 2018 wave of Nexo Knights sets down to three new parts, and will highlight these the most.

The new LEGO® 1x2 Rounded Plate

I'm such a tease. I promised to post the first Skærbæk builds today but this post about an exciting new 2018 LEGO® part just came through! It's written by Simon Liu (Si-MOCs), a Canadian builder who is well known for his diverse builds, his enthusiastic participation in conventions and his pivotal role in the popular Flickr LEGO building contests SHIPtember and FebRovery. Welcome, Si!

Fresh for 2018 we have an interesting new piece, shown below left, with Design ID 35480. BrickLink calls it Technic, Plate 1 x 2 with Smooth Ends and 2 Studs. But that's kind of long, and I don't think it's overly accurate so I'm just going to call it a Rounded Plate 1x2 with Through Holes, or 1x2 Rounded Plate for short - as currently there is no other 1x2 rounded plate. [Ed: since this article was published, BrickLink have changed its name to 'Plate, Modified 1 x 2 Rounded with 2 Open Studs'.] Rumour has it this piece was introduced by the Super Heroes team, and some people have lovingly dubbed this piece the "Super Heroes Plate".

Towering achievement

Have you all already decided whether or not to buy 71040 Disney Castle? At £299.99 / US$349.99 / €349.99, the first obstacle is cost. Beyond that, if you are a Disney fan, I imagine it is a must-have. If you crave large, challenging LEGO® builds this is definitely something out of the ordinary. If you love to wow your friends with your latest LEGO display, this is a great choice — aside from being appealing and highly detailed with loads of rooms inside referencing different Disney films, it is a good shape for display in that the model’s footprint is relatively small compared to the overall height. We even have a human being to show you just how big it is...

Combo NEXO Power shields

The LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ theme introduced many exciting and useful new elements into the LEGO System in 2016 and this trend continues into 2017. Today we look at a highly unusual piece which is set to take your building into totally new dimensions, literally!

Neo-Nexo Ice Planet Knights

It fascinates me that, when planning the LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ theme, the LEGO Group seemingly took inspiration from AFOLs. Specifically, the idea of building new models using the colour schemes of olden-day LEGO themes, such as the Neo-Classic Spacers do. The colour scheme the designers chose for Nexo Knights in 2016 clearly riffs on the LEGO Space theme from 1992 called Ice Planet 2002.

This made me wonder what a modern-day AFOL of super Space-building skills... say, Tim Goddard... might create for Ice Planet using Nexo Knights pieces. Thanks (once again) to the excellent support of the AFOL Relations & Programs team at the LEGO Group and Tim's incredible building skills, the idea has now come to fruition... so let's see how he got on!

I was given an interesting brief for this article: “the Nexo Knights range has a definite flavour of Ice Planet 2002: explore”. There is no denying the colour palettes overlap greatly; you just need a little white to mix with the blue and orange shades and you are almost there, albeit with a medieval twist to the theme. So I have created a few models investigating how the new pieces in the range can be used to add a bit of frostiness to spacey creations, how useful these new moulds are, plus a few other observations along the way.