22 December 2023
Bug Fest: MOCs from kekenoji, Ikuse Ryouji, and Takamichi Irie
15 December 2023
Bug Fest: Tary's MOCs
Our latest Parts Festival, Bug Fest – where we've sent LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection to five amazing builders and asked them to create original models – continues today!
Tary (@nobu_tary on Twitter and Instagram) is famed for his LEGO food and robot builds, and his Bug Fest builds do not disappoint! Let's see what he has to offer.
07 December 2023
Bug Fest: Moko's MOCs
For our latest Parts Festival we've added the bricks from LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection to the collections of five amazing builders, and asked them to create original models. Welcome to Bug Fest!
Kicking the fest off today is Moko, a master of nice parts usage (NPU). Indeed, one of his Bug Fest MOCs really puts the 'P' into NPU...
03 December 2023
Bug Fest using LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection: Introducing the elements
It's December and New Elementary is getting in the festive mood with a Parts Fest!
We invited five incredibly talented builders, @kekenoji, @moko_bricks, @legomichiiiiii, @r194.lego, and @nobu_tary to inspire us with their LEGO creations using elements from LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection. With an inventory that ticked all the boxes for colourful and interesting elements, it seemed like the perfect set for a Parts Fest, or maybe this time it's a Bug Fest...
24 November 2023
LEGO® Ideas review: 21343 Viking Village
Skål! Today’s set takes us back in time, in terms of both world history and LEGO® history. So raise your horn of mead and toast to the return of the Vikings.
23 February 2023
LEGO® Ideas review: 21339 BTS Dynamite
Today we’re taking a look at LEGO® Ideas 21339 BTS Dynamite, a set that uniquely has been based on a music video. More specifically, the music video for Dynamite by BTS. For the uninitiated, BTS is a mega popular Korean K-Pop band with a massive worldwide following.
21339 Dynamite gathered the required 10,000 supporters to enter the LEGO Ideas review process before being approved in February 2022 to become an actual LEGO set.
19 October 2022
LEGO® Ideas review: 21337 Table Football
In February and March 2021, the LEGO® Ideas website ran a “We Love Sports'' contest. Table Football, designed by fan designer Donát Fehévári, was selected as winner, and will be released an official set on 1 November 2022. For those of you aware of the original submission, there is one massive change. The original was 11-a-side, and this is only 5-a-side! Why didn’t LEGO deliver on this? The short answer is, if they had to stick to 11-a-side, the set would not have been released at all.
17 October 2022
LEGO® Ideas review + MOC: 21333 Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh is undeniably one of the most beloved painters in history. His paintings are adored by both the art professionals and the greater public, and the tragic aspects of his life affect the way they are perceived. Nonetheless, due to huge popularity his paintings adorn a mass of memorabilia from fridge magnets to calendars and lunch boxes, and via LEGO® Ideas program, a buildable miniature set.
29 December 2021
LEGO® Ideas review: 21331 Sonic the Hedgehog™ Green Hill Zone
Áron Gerencsér (@_pohaturon) explores the new LEGO® Ideas set, 21331 Sonic the Hedgehog™ Green Hill Zone. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
Having a LEGO® Ideas submission hit 10,000 supporters is an exciting prospect for any builder hoping to see their design show up on store shelves. When the review period rolls around, that excitement can get mixed with anticipation and anxiety - so imagine having the submission held back “for further consideration” multiple times! Thankfully, the “Sonic Mania - Green Hill Zone” submission has now materialized as set 21331 Sonic the Hedgehog™ Green Hill Zone.
Like all Ideas sets, this went through some changes - big and small - during the process of being redesigned from submission into product. Compared to the submission’s ~700 pieces, 21331 got bumped up to 1125 parts coming in at $69.99 / £59.99 / €69.99 / 119.9 AUD / 89.99 CAD. Let’s take a look at the end result and see if 21331 can hit the high score, or whether it ends up losing its rings.
08 September 2021
LEGO® Ideas 21329 Fender® Stratocaster™: Can it be played?
Eero Okkonen (@eerookkonen) delivered his parts and build analysis of the upcoming LEGO® Ideas set 21329 Fender® Stratocaster™ yesterday, but left one vital conclusion for today's article: Can it be played? Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
©2021 The LEGO Group |
This plastic guitar has 6 actual strings of different scale lengths. It has a fretboard so yes, technically, it is possible to press the strings against that and pluck or strum them. However, the frets are only printed, so while they assist with finding the correct chords, the guitar is essentially a fretless one. And more importantly, the strings are plastic, there is no electricity in them, they are quite loose and the pickups are only prints... and thus the instrument stays silent.
This is entirely expected.
07 September 2021
LEGO® Ideas review: 21329 Fender® Stratocaster™
Eero Okkonen (@eerookkonen) reviews the upcoming LEGO® Ideas 21329 Fender Stratocaster set, which will be available from 1 October 2021 priced US$99/ £99/ €99/ AU$159.99/ CA$139.99. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
Usually, LEGO® Ideas products begin life as projects on the Ideas site,
gain 10,000 votes within a given time frame, go through the LEGO Group
review phase and are then converted into sets by employees. Gaining the
votes - no small task on its own! - far from guarantees the product will
be made; in the June 2021 review for example, only one of 25 projects
was selected.
©2021 The LEGO Group |
However, the process was different for Ideas set number 37. In spring 2020 the Ideas website hosted a music-themed contest with fan voting. Tomáš Letenay's Fender Stratocaster project was chosen from the rank seven, surpassing band-specific, minifigure-scale and large figure-based projects.
09 June 2021
LEGO® Ideas reveal: 21327 Typewriter
The LEGO Group has just revealed the new LEGO® Ideas set, 21327 Typewriter, and on top of the details from the press release we also have additional information for you from the team behind this thrilling new set! It measures 27 x 26 x 12cm, contains 2079 pieces and will cost £179.99/ US$199.99/ €199.99/ AU$329.99/ CA$269.99. Availability to LEGO VIPs is from Wednesday 16 June 2021 and general sale is from 1 July. When the time comes we’d appreciate if you would consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'.
26 February 2021
LEGO® Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith: Kev's alternate builds
A month ago, Kev Levell (on Flickr) reviewed the parts and the build of LEGO® Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith and today he presents a whole bunch of his own alternate models using only parts from the set and sticking with the set's theme. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.
I love banging on about LEGO®, and beating something into shape using the elements found in one set. I've been forging ahead on a few ideas I had for MOCs inspired by the Medieval Blacksmith.
It hasn’t been either heavy, hard or hot work and no-one needed to do it, but I had fun in any case. Maybe I’ve hit on something that might interest you, I hope so.
24 January 2021
LEGO® Ideas set review: 21325 Medieval Blacksmith
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.
23 January 2021
LEGO® Ideas parts review: 21325 Medieval Blacksmith
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.
11 January 2021
LEGO® Ideas review: 21323 Grand Piano
Released in August 2020, 21323 Grand Piano is an unusual and remarkable LEGO® product. For the few of you still unaware of it, let’s start with the quickest of rundowns. Measuring 58 x 38 x 16 cm (23 x 15 x 6 in) and weighing over 6kg (13 lb) in the box, this is a faithful LEGO representation of a working grand piano. Lids flip open, the stool rises, the keys strike strings – and it kinda plays music too; a Powered Up electric motor can be activated by a phone app to make the keys move while music plays on the phone.
23 October 2020
LEGO® Ideas parts & minifigures review: 21324 123 Sesame Street
As we've all now seen, LEGO® Ideas 21324 123 Sesame Street is a vibrant set full of new and rare recolours of parts, and brand new minifigs too. Hang on a second – new moulds in Ideas? The press release confirms “exclusive buildable minifigures which have been moulded specifically for the set”. Seems that’s no longer against the Ideas rules; Brickset user Brick_Clicker noted the guidelines on the LEGO Ideas site now state: “Should we deem it necessary, we may introduce new LEGO element molds, new cloth or other non-brick elements in the final official LEGO Ideas set. This would [be] done on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the LEGO Ideas Product Development team.” Well, that is good news, although I really hope we get a CMF line too because I want Grover and The Count!
22 October 2020
LEGO® Ideas review: 21324 123 Sesame Street - the model & stickers
Warning: I haven’t been this excited about an IP since LEGO Doctor Who, and so unusually for New Elementary there will be scrutiny of the source material, the minifigures and even the stickers! We’ll start with the completed set however, so settle back, pop on an appropriate disco soundtrack and let me show you what you get, what you get in Sesame Street.
28 March 2020
LEGO® Ideas review: 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay - the new pieces & minifigures
LEGO® Ideas try their best to work without creating any new moulds, so we don’t get any in 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay. That statement turns out to be not completely true however, as you will see later.
Recoloured LEGO® pieces in 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay
Most interesting are the recolours – existing elements changed to new colours – and there are more in this set than I thought.The first surprise while building was the colour of the palm leaves used in this set. From the picture on the box I would have bet that they are the usual Dark Green/ Green (shown top right), but all 16 are actually Bright Green (6299808|10884, shown lower right).
25 March 2020
21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay: Designer interview with Milan Madge & Austin William Carlson
Milan: The first step was building the fan designer Pablo’s model, but it became obvious early on that I was missing a lot of elements. Many of the pieces have been out of production for some time, so we had to get creative. The biggest hurdle was the raised baseplate, which meant a total redesign of the structure of the model, but even tiny changes such as the new boat hulls being wider than the ones in Pablo’s submission meant that all the proportions needed altering – a real headache!