I thought it might be interesting to briefly present several LEGO® pieces I like to use in builds that are not necessarily rare but are maybe a bit forgotten, along with examples of older MOCs of mine. To kick things off, two parts from the early 2000s that sport gentle curves: Windscreen 9 x 3 x 1 2/3 Bubble Canopy and Wedge 4 x 3 Cut Back with Cutout.
22 January 2021
Old Elementary: Eero Okkonen's gentle LEGO® curves
09 January 2021
LEGO® Chinese Festival 80106 & 80107: new parts & Lee's alternate builds
After a close examination of sets 80106 Story of Nian and 80107 Spring Lantern Festival on their own, it is time to take them apart and make something new with the awesome selection of LEGO® parts - as the festive banner suggested, “Out with the old, in with the new” (辭舊迎新)! However, before diving into the MOCs I created, let’s have a comprehensive look at all the noteworthy parts in these two incredible sets.
01 January 2021
LEGO® Technic review & MOC: 42123 McLaren Senna GTR
Alongside really big licensed LEGO® Technic cars like the Chiron and the Sián are the smaller - but still sizeable - licensed cars intended to be more affordable. while still bringing accuracy and build quality that both kids and adult collectors will appreciate. 42123 McLaren Senna GTR is the latest of these cars. Let’s see if we have a champion on our hands, or if it should have made a pit-stop before primetime.
This 830 piece set costs 49,99€/ US$49.99/ £44.99/ AU$89.99/ CA$69.99 and is available from today, 1 January 2021.
15 December 2020
LEGO® CITY Review & MOCs: 60304 Road Plates
After months of rumour and speculation, the new LEGO® CITY Road Plate system has been finally unveiled. This review will examine the new elements in set 60304 and how they can be integrated with an existing City layout, either using regular baseplates or a modular system such as MILS.
In 2 future articles I will also look at the interesting elements in 4 other sets in this 2021 City release: 60290 Skate Park and 60291 Family House, 60292 Town Centre and 60306 Shopping Street.
03 December 2020
LEGO® Monkie Kid review & MOCs: 80015 Monkie Kid's Cloud Roadster
Arriving in the second wave of the new-ish Monkie Kid theme, alongside 80014 Sandy’s Speedboat and 80016 The Flaming Foundry, is the medium-sized 80015 Monkie Kid’s Cloud Roadster. With five minifigures and 659 pieces, this vehicle is the second-largest set of the wave and retails for £54.99 / $69.99 / 58.48€. With an interesting minifig lineup, a promise of useful parts in interesting colours and a smaller villainous side-build adding play value, this set seems like a good time for kids and AFOLs alike. Let’s see if it can soar through the clouds, or if it’s left in the dust!
21 November 2020
LEGO® Ninjago MOCs: 70687 Spinjitzu Burst - Lloyd
Occasionally the LEGO Group releases a highly specialised part designed, very pointedly, to fulfil a specific role in a play feature – with versatility taking the back seat. Naturally, we then do our absolute best to subvert that specific role and find other uses for them.
One such part is Function Element W Hinge, aka Energy Burst with Wide Clip (Design ID 66960) appearing in three dual-moulded colour variants throughout this year’s Ninjago Spinjitzu Burst sets. I was sent 5 copies of 70687 Spinjitzu Burst - Lloyd, each including 4 of them in Silver Metallic with Transparent Bright Green (Element ID 6322846), giving me 20 of these to mess around with!
16 November 2020
LEGO® Star Wars 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina: Thomas Jenkins' Alternate Build & MOCs
From a Star Wars icon to more of a deep cut from the Star Wars universe…
Alternate build using parts in Mos Eisley Cantina
Tan Leader standing by!
My goal with creating an alternate build was to make something as different as I could from the original model.
10 November 2020
LEGO® Ninjago review + MOCs: 70686 Spinjitzu Burst – Kai
Ninjago has always been known for introducing new elements, but the latest mini-wave of Spinjizu Burst sets have raised the bar – or should that be levelled the bar? More on that later but first let’s take a look at the build of one of the three Burst sets currently available: 70686 Spinjitzu Burst – Kai.
30 October 2020
Forbidden Elementary: Sticker sheet cardboard box
Designed to withstand even the most enthusiastic play, the average LEGO® brick doesn’t typically require individual protective packaging. However, some of the more fragile, non-standard elements like rubber bands, string and cloth pieces need exactly that and so are placed in small cardboard boxes to keep them safe from factory to consumer.
This particular specimen comes from the Speed Champions polybag 30342 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo which was available for free with qualifying purchases from LEGO in June and August 2020. Unusually, it does not contain one of the vulnerable element types listed above; instead it protects the tiny sticker sheet from getting crumpled in the bag. Before diving deeper into the wonderful potential of cardboard LEGO elements, let’s take a brief look at the model itself because without it, I wouldn’t have embarked on this bizarre endeavour.
27 October 2020
LEGO® Architecture review & MOCs: 21054 The White House
25 October 2020
LEGO® Hidden Side Review & MOCs: 70437 Mystery Castle
70437 Mystery Castle is the largest set in the current LEGO® Hidden Side releases for 2020. The castle is approximately 31cm wide, 27cm deep and 33cm tall in its closed configuration and 45.5cm wide by 26cm deep in its open position. It contains 6 minifigures, 1033 parts and is priced at £89.99/ US$99.99/ €97.47. The price per part is reasonable value at 8.7p/ 9.7c/ 9.4c respectively, especially when you consider that quite a few of the parts are quite large pieces such as corner panels, windscreens and moulded roof elements.
17 October 2020
New moulds & MOCs: LEGO® 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair & 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase
When the movie Minions: The Rise of Gru was postponed until 2021, several of the planned LEGO® tie-in sets met with the same fate. Two sets did however get released in April, which is good as there is much of interest to be found... in one of them.
Unless you’re a bike fan or interested in the Minion minifigures, 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase (shown on the right) doesn’t offer much to adult builders but 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair has thrilling new moulds – and is a hilarious build. Even if you hate these little yellow pipsqueaks, don’t you want to build silly giant mech versions of them?
Let’s discover what LEGO Minions are made of, starting with the new-for-2020 LEGO parts that comprise the giant Minions found in 75551.
09 October 2020
LEGO® Trolls World Tour: Grantmasters' MOCs
The sets arrived and my kids said to me, "Good luck with that!" – so figured perhaps I had my work cut out for me? Indeed they proved to be a bit of a test of my creativity. Included were 41251 Poppy’s Pod, 41255 Pop Village Celebration and two copies of both 41252 Poppy’s Hot Air Balloon Adventure and 41253 Lonesome Flats Raft Adventure.
I started by emptying all of the sets out and seeing which parts I thought were interesting.
06 October 2020
LEGO® Star Wars review & MOCs: 75253 Droid Commander
Today we’ll take a break from our 2020 set reviews by focusing on a set released a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Okay, not so long ago, actually, because we’ll be taking a look at 75253 Droid Commander, a 2019 Star Wars set containing 1177 parts, many of which are definitely worth taking a look at!
04 October 2020
LEGO® Monkie Kid review & MOC: 80007 Iron Bull Tank
Just one of the many enemies the Monkie Kid & co. will encounter, the Iron Bull Tank consists of 470 parts, includes 4 minifigures (although one is rather large to be deemed ‘mini’ – no offence Sandy!) and is priced at £39.99 / $49.99 / 43.86€.
27 September 2020
LEGO® Monkie Kid review & alt-build: 80008 Monkie Kid's Cloud Jet
This is the second of two Monkie Kid sets that I have been sent to review and compared to the other, 80009 Pigsy’s Food Truck, this one is more to my liking. The Cloud Jet looks great, with interesting angles and vivid colours, and I found it to be much more interesting build-wise.
20 September 2020
LEGO® Iconic review & alt builds: 40424 Winter Snowball Fight
The LEGO Group has put out quite a lot of seasonal vignettes over the years, and they rarely disappoint me. With a low price point, a lovely model and a great selection of parts, 40424 Winter Snowball Fight easily won me over once again. Let’s take a look at what you can get out of this US$12.99/ CA$16.99 set
18 September 2020
LEGO® Arcade Pods: Aron Gerencser's Robot Lovers and Hermit Crab
They say couples who play together, stay together - and I guess if that applies to both LEGO® and video games, the buff stacks!
17 September 2020
LEGO® Arcade Pods: Mansur Soeleman's Tank & Terribilis
08 September 2020
LEGO® Hidden Side: Eli Willsea's creations using new parts from 70430 & 70432
First off let's take a look at some of the newest elements included in these sets that I used in my creations. There were several recolours of existing parts as well as a few new elements that immediately caught my eye.