Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
Role-playing games elicit high hopes. Players expect a deep story, stunning graphics, and fulfilling gameplay, and only the best games spawn a successful franchise. Horizon Forbidden West solidifies the impact left by Aloy and her robo-dino co-stars of Horizon Zero Dawn, and now just three months after the sequel’s release a LEGO® set celebrating the series has just hit the shelves.03 May 2022
LEGO® Horizon Forbidden West review & interview: 76989 Tallneck
21 April 2022
The LEGO® 5x5 Curved Plate
17 April 2022
Building with Marvel's Eternals
Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
11 April 2022
LEGO® Monkie Kid parts review + MOCs: 80035 Monkie Kid's Galactic Explorer
Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
80035 Monkie Kid's Galactic Explorer - with 1356 parts and a price range of 169.99 AUD / 169.99 CAD / 99.99 EUR(DE)/ 129.95 EUR(FI) / 89.99 GBD / 129.99 USD - is one of 8 playsets of the LEGO® Monkie Kid January 2022 line-up. It is also one of the coolest spaceships currently available. However, I'll leave the spaceship aspect to the Benny-heads while I dive deep into the interesting parts of this set, and then reveal two original character builds inspired by its contents.
04 April 2022
LEGO® NINJAGO: MOCcing with the new-for-2022 parts
Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
Once my reviews of the first wave of LEGO® Ninjago sets for 2022 were wrapped up, it was time for my favourite part of the process - making MOCs with the new moulds and recolours! This wave of Ninjago introduced SCCBS with the EVO sets marking an exciting new beginning for Constraction in LEGO System, with several new moulds that caught my attention in particular.
27 March 2022
LEGO® Marvel review & MOCs: 76156 Rise Of The Domo
Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
10 March 2022
LEGO® Ninjago review & MOCs: 71755 Temple of the Endless Sea
Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
24 January 2022
LEGO® Icons review + MOC: 77942 Fiat 500
Kev Levell (@kevlevell) dives into the blue of the colour-changed LEGO® Icons set, 77942 Fiat 500, and creates his own model too. Buying this UK-only set? Consider using our UK LEGO Shop affiliate link, New Elementary may get a commission. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
The original LEGO® Creator Fiat 500 introduced a phenomenal number of recoloured elements; please see Tom Loftus’s comprehensive review of the lovely lemony Luigi. So, it is perhaps unsurprising that the contentious UK-exclusive baby blue cinquecento also comes with many recoloured elements too.
20 January 2022
LEGO® Super Mario review: Luigi’s Mansion and Seaside sets
Zachary Hill (@zaxbrix) continues his LEGO® Super Mario 2022 analysis with reviews of 71396 Bowser Jr.’s Clown Car, 71397 Luigi’s Mansion™ Lab and Poltergust, 71399 Luigi’s Mansion Entryway, 71398 Dorrie’s Beachfront, 71400 Big Urchin Ride and the 71402 Series 4 Character Packs. Buying Super Mario sets from LEGO.com? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
Mario is finally sharing the spotlight of the LEGO® Super Mario theme with his brother Luigi. Today we’re reviewing two Luigi’s Mansion™ sets, three other Super Mario sets, and the Series 4 Character Packs. There’s new gameplay elements, familiar faces from every era of Mario, and ghost hunting. The new parts introduced have already been examined, so let’s jump into the full sets!
02 January 2022
LEGO® Creator review + MOCs: 77940 and 77941 Mighty Dinos
Kev Levell (@kevlevell) plays with the brown and blue recolours of Mighty Dinos sets, LEGO® Creator 77940 and 77941, which were an experiment run in the UK market. He had two copies of each to work with. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
There is something fascinating in seeing an official LEGO® set recoloured. Having built the original dinosaurs with my son numerous times, building the recoloured versions with him for this review was a real joy. Once again, I was struck by the versatility of the set, both as individual sets and as multiples.
The original green version, 31058 Mighty Dinosaurs, was designed by Mike Psiaki and the job of working out the recoloured versions was given to Morten Rauff. The concept of recolouring a set isn’t new, but it’s never been done by The LEGO Group as a product offering before.
03 December 2021
Old Elementary: Part 4 of the LEGO® BIONICLE 20th Anniversary Festival
Guest contributors Alex Van de Kleut, Mitch H and Matt Goldberg conclude our celebration of the 20th anniversary of LEGO® BIONICLE with three more parts; examined and utilized in builds.
30 November 2021
Old Elementary: Midgard Serpent Head
Mitch Henry (@mitch_henry_czq) returns with further exploration into Constraction elements; this time examining and building with a rare LEGO® Vikings piece.
In 2005, The LEGO Group released a short lived but fondly remembered theme called LEGO® Vikings. It had a limited run of only one release wave. These sets featured fantastical Viking minifigures and mythological beasts such as giant dragons and wolves… but mostly dragons.
One of the largest sets of the theme was 7018 Viking Ship Challenges the Midgard Serpent. It contains 564 pieces, 6 minifigures, and one mean-looking monster, making it the theme’s most iconic playset. While it contains numerous fun and unique LEGO elements, the focus of this article is the element Midgard Serpent Head in Dark Green (53455). The element is appropriately named, as it is unique to this set.
26 November 2021
Old Elementary: Part 3 of the LEGO® BIONICLE 20th Anniversary Festival
Max Howell, Kevin Huxhold, Thomas Jenkins, Johann Dakitsch and Zachary Hill join our celebration of the 20th anniversary of LEGO® BIONICLE! Five more parts have been chosen by our regular and guest contributors; they analyse them for you and then get building original creations.
Please consider following New Elementary's affiliate links if you're buying from LEGO.com; we may earn a commission. LEGO.com USA | LEGO.com Australia | LEGO.com UK (for Europe, 'Change region').
19 November 2021
Old Elementary: Part 2 of the LEGO® BIONICLE 20th Anniversary Festival
Tim Goddard, Aiden Rexroad, Caz Mockett and Disty continue our celebration of the 20th anniversary of LEGO® BIONICLE, the New Elementary way! Five more parts have been examined by our regular and guest contributors.
16 November 2021
Forbidden Elementary: Car Sandwiches
PaulvilleMOCs (@paulvillemocs) joins us for a guest post today, we are excited to say – but he selected a rather terrifying area of the LEGO® parts inventory to explore: promotional tie-in vehicles. Specifically the "cereal cars": a range of LEGO® Racers promotional sets for General Mills and Cheerios. What MOCs can he make from these highly specialised parts?
Imagine yourself way back in 2009. You are at the grocery store, in the breakfast aisle. You can choose between the cereal with a LEGO® race car in it, or the cereal without. Most likely, knowing New Elementary’s audience, you would opt for the one with a LEGO race car. Because of this, a number of these odd car parts have been floating around my LEGO collection for the past 12 years.
12 November 2021
Old Elementary: Part 1 of the LEGO® BIONICLE 20th Anniversary Festival
Áron Gerencsér, Eero Okkonen, Mitch H and Ivan Martynov kick off a fresh Parts Festival using old parts, in honour of the weird and wonderful elements from LEGO® BIONICLE.
LEGO® BIONICLE is a beloved, if controversial, theme and it turned 20 this year. Memorable to different people for different reasons - be it its extensive story and mythology, or the feat of saving the company from bankruptcy, or the unusual moulds which at first glance might seem hard to finesse into the broader LEGO building system. The legacy of ‘Constraction’ was kicked off by Slizers / Throwbots, popularized by Bionicle, streamlined with CCBS, and lives on today in brick-built creatures and mechs using tow ball joints. Once revived and twice cancelled, Bionicle still has a dedicated fanbase full of enthusiastic builders. In true New Elementary fashion, we decided to celebrate the occasion by digging into the parts.
03 November 2021
LEGO® Element Development: the Candelabra – Interview with Henrik Skallebæk
Eero Okkonen (@eerookkonen) resumes our series of Element Developer Q&As today as we speak to Henrik Skallebæk, Senior Mechanical Engineer at the LEGO Group, about the LEGO® Candelabra piece (73117). Then, Eero presents an original MOC using this new element. Transcripts were edited for clarity, readability and narrative flow.
The 3-armed candlestick was specifically designed for the LEGO® version of candlewax-and-brass character Lumiere, from Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast. However, the piece made its debut in the LEGO Harry Potter theme.
30 October 2021
LEGO® Disney parts review & MOC: 43196 Belle and the Beast's Castle
Eero Okkonen (@eerookkonen) analyses the contents of LEGO® Disney 43196 Belle and the Beast's Castle before using some of its new parts in his own creation. 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.
I have never seen Beauty And The Beast, and pretty much no other Disney animated films, but the castle featured in the film seems to be the most fairytale castle of fairytale castles, with smooth lavender walls, dreamy towering spires, gilded portcullises, romantic ballrooms and a comprehensive library. Its universality in the genre has led to many set versions in recent years so it's easy to get confused: there is 41067 Belle's Enchanted Castle from 2016, 43180 Belle's Castle Winter Celebration for 4+ builders from 2020, and even the single-spire 10762 Belle's Story Time from 2018… oh, and DUPLO 10877 Belle's Tea Party. Phew!
20 October 2021
LEGO® Element Development: the Escalator Link – Interview with Stephan Breum Steen
Thomas Jenkins (@thomas_jenkins_bricks) continues our series of Element Developer Q&As, once again with Stephan Breum Steen, Senior Mechanical Engineer in the Novelty Element Development department at the LEGO Group. This time Stephan answers our questions about the LEGO® Escalator Link Chain with Panel and Centre Divider (69900). Then, Thomas provides additional analysis and MOCs. Transcripts were edited for clarity, readability and narrative flow.
11 October 2021
LEGO® Icons review & MOC: 10295 Porsche 911
Victor Pruvost (@leewanlego) is back today with a review of LEGO® 10295 Porsche 911, plus an original MOC! 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.
The LEGO Group has released an unusually high number of Creator Expert sets in 2021, including three vehicles (four if you include the UK exclusive 77942 Fiat 500 in Light Royal Blue/ Bright Light Blue): 10290 Pickup Truck which has just been released, 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van from August, and 10295 Porsche 911 from March. It is the latter that we’re going to talk about today. It contains 1458 pieces, is priced £119.99 / US$149.99 / CA$199.99 / 139.99€ (Euro price may vary according to the country) / AU$229.99.