Old Elementary: Eero Okkonen's gentle LEGO® curves

Finnish LEGO® builder Eero Okkonen (now on Instagram!) kicks off his new series of articles with us today where he will look at unusual parts he likes to use in his models and reveals some techniques.

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.

10 years of new LEGO® NINJAGO® pieces

Ben Davies (@ProfBrickkeeper) celebrates the 10th anniversary of LEGO® NINJAGO® today as well as spotting new moulds in 4 sets just announced for March 2021. Buying Ninjago sets? 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.

2021 marks a major milestone for LEGO® NINJAGO®, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Although the theme was originally intended to only last for three years – from 2011 to 2013 -–popular demand from fans led to Ninjago becoming an “evergreen” theme alongside the likes of City, Space, Castle, Friends and Star Wars.

With such a long lifespan, it’s not surprising that Ninjago has been a breeding ground of exciting elements for LEGO builders, and will surely continue to be into the future. In honour of Ninjago’s 10th anniversary, I’ve decided to highlight a selection of the most notable (and versatile) elements introduced by the theme, and take a first look at some of the upcoming elements coming in new Ninjago sets in March 2021.

Old Elementary: Inside the LEGO® DUPLO® phone

We have two unexpected things for you in today's article – it's a guest post by Marinus Jasperse, LEGO® Senior Designer on the Element Design Platform Team, and our first ever post devoted entirely to LEGO® DUPLO®!

“I'll do it 'til the sun goes down”, as Sia sings in her song Unstoppable. And that is exactly what this LEGO DUPLO telephone from the 1980s is: unstoppable, after 30 years.

Played with it as a toddler, lost it in a parental clean-up in my teenage years and bought it out of nostalgia when I came across it in a Danish second-hand store.

Old Elementary: Insectoids eyes

The eyes have it! In his third and final examination of interesting LEGO® pieces introduced for the 1998 Space theme Insectoids, Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw) takes a 'look' at two parts comprising the aliens' eyes, and builds original creations of his own using them.

Today, we’re journeying back once again to the days of the late 1990s to cast our gaze upon some old LEGO® Insectoids parts. But these parts can gaze back! That’s because we’re looking at Cylinder Hemisphere 4x4 Multifaceted (30208) and Plate, Modified 1x2 with 4x4 Dish at 90° (30209), a pair of parts which were first introduced as ‘eyes’ in the Insectoids line.

Tipper Ends: Eero Okkonen's Aurora Sievert & Hurricane III

Yesterday, Eero Okkonen examined in great detail the history and geometry of the 'Tipper End Family' of LEGO® pieces, especially Vehicle, Tipper End Flat with Pins (Design ID 3145) and Vehicle, Tipper End Sloped (3436). Today he reveals this never-before-published model he built in February using tipper ends, but first he takes us through earlier models where he utilised these unusual parts that were introduced five decades ago.  

Previous Builds

A more mathematical approach to tipper ends is a new and exciting world to me, but I’ve used them few times before, mostly as armour shells or clothing, something akin to Constraction shells.

Old Elementary: Odds & Tipper Ends

We take another trip into LEGO® part history today to discover a kind of piece introduced 51 years ago that is still found in sets in 2020; 'tipper ends'. They're a passion for Finnish LEGO builder Eero Okkonen and today he delves deep into their geometry and reveals building techniques utilising them.

As we all very well know, adults complain 64% of the time that everything was better when they were kids; the only LEGO® bricks were basic angular blocks (and lost behind the radiator probably) and you could build everything based on your own imagination and didn’t have to follow the instructions and it made you a better person in the end. I don’t think like that, and one of the biggest joys depicted here on New Elementary and in contests like Iron Builder (and hopefully in my own work) is finding new, fresh uses to odd and curious parts, no matter what their original use in the sets was.

This article is about what I will call the Tipper End Family; today I’ll introduce the parts and their history, then go through their dimensions with a series of tablescraps and explanatory pictures, then tomorrow show some older builds of mine using these pieces and close with an unpublished build.

Iron Builder: Hammer & Spanner LEGO® building techniques

It's easy to look at a MOC and think, wow, that's beautiful... without appreciating all the astonishing connection techniques involved. Especially in a LEGO® contest like Iron Builder's Iron Forge where the brilliance is steadily poured into your eyeballs on a daily basis. I find it can even be a bit intimidating: how on earth could I ever build that well? Here's one by #1 Nomad:

So we've partnered with Iron Builder to break things down a little for you and reveal some of the techniques used by these amazing builders in the hope it inspires you, and improves everyone's game. We chatted with some of the talented competitors who made the Top 20 last week to ask how they used the seed parts, which were two classic Minifigure Utensil Tools: the Spanner Wrench / Screwdriver (Design IDs 4006 & 88631) and Mallet / Hammer (Design ID 4522).

Articles about specialised LEGO® parts

Recently we published a great article by Victor Pruvost examining the highly specialised new LEGO® piece, the 'arcade pod'. However, many of you were soon frustrated as Google had some dumb bug resulting in all the images disappearing. I've now replaced them all, so check it out if you missed it:

READ: LEGO NINJAGO Arcade Pods: Victor Pruvost creates a Rover and Computer

Maybe you did see it already? So here's another couple of suggestions from the archives of New Elementary...

LEGO® Xtra: Inthert uses 40376 Botanical Accessories as seed parts

You may recall we recently challenged Inthert to get creative with a couple of polybags from the LEGO® Xtra range. We already published his creations based upon 40375 Sports Accessories and today comes the other bag: 40376 Botanical Accessories which has 32 pieces and is priced £3.99 / $3.99 / 3.99€.

 

For the green-fingered among you, there is 40376 Botanical Accessories (not to be confused with 2018’s 40310 Botanical Accessories).

LEGO® Ideas set review: 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay

Just revealed, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay is the next LEGO® Ideas set and we have not one but three articles about it for you this week! Later we have a fascinating interview with the designers Milan Madge and Austin William Carlson, but first up Jonas Kramm reviews the set across two articles: today he looks at the ship, bay and Easter eggs and next will be the new parts and the minifigures.

Ahoy sailor! Did you ever wonder what happened to Redbeard and his beloved vessel, the Black Seas Barracuda? Then come closer and I will tell you the tale of the Pirates of Barracuda Bay: the newest LEGO® Ideas set.

Pitched by Pablo Jiménez (Bricky_Brick) as “The Pirate Bay” in 2019, the submission that took only 25 days to reach the required 10,000 supporters has now been turned into an official set and will be available from 1 April 2020. It contains 2,545 pieces and the price point is US$199.99/ CA$259.99/ €199.99/ £179.99/ 1599DKK.

Old Elementary: LEGO® technique and geometry articles, part 1

Stuck inside much? Here at New Elementary we have been discussing ways to keep you entertained... and we have lots of ideas coming up!

First off we thought you might like to read some specially chosen articles from New Elementary's back catalogue. To start with we went to the beginning; 2013! See if any of these LEGO® articles take your fancy.

LEGO® Xtra: Inthert tackles 40375 Sports Accessories

Sometimes The LEGO Group offer us polybags from the LEGO® Xtra range to review, and although these don't contain completely new elements or recolours we still love the challenge of figuring out what to do with them! In the past Tim Goddard has taken on the challenge but this time we've asked another UK Spacer, Inthert, to get creative with them. 

Unless you’re willing to purchase multiple sets or rummage in the build-a-minifigure section in store, obtaining a good selection of themed parts direct from LEGO® can be tricky. At least that was the case before the LEGO Xtra polybags hit shelves. Each bag typically consists of a handful of accessories along with a few basic bricks that can be used to make a suggested small build or two. Today we’ll be focusing on 40375 Sports Accessories; we’ll look over the parts included, then dive into some MOCs I made using the bag’s contents as seed elements.

Old Elementary: the Train Light Prism

Following his stunning contributions to our recent LEGO® Parts Festival, the talented Swedish builder Oscar Cederwall (Flickr) suggested he write an article about one particular element he used in one particular build that a lot of you have been asking about. 

You might have seen this MOC of mine before. It showed up in the New Elementary Parts Festival in late 2019. When you saw it, you might have wondered what those weird parts that make up the cockpit are? Well, let me tell you all about them…

The story about the Electric, Train Light Prism 1 x 3 (Design ID 4171), or "train prism" that I will call it hereafter, begins in 1980 with the new LEGO electric train system. The part was released in six sets during a seven-year period, and only in Transparent/Trans-Clear. Just three of these sets are actual trains; the other three are accessory packs.

Fabuland Lives On: Exquisite but Exclusive

Welcome to the fourth article in our Fabuland Lives On series, celebrating the 40th anniversary of this unique LEGO® theme from yesteryear.  So far we have looked at Fabuland's introduction of new colours, Fabuland elements that continue to this day and Fabuland's 'hidden side' when elements popped up into other themes. Now, this article focusses on some of the Fabuland elements that were exclusive to, and retired with, this much-loved theme.

For those Fabuland experts out there, I will say that this is not a list of ALL the elements that were exclusive to Fabuland. I picked a selection that I felt were a little special in terms of their attractive or detailed appearance but there are plenty more if you care to look.

Old Elementary: The 1x2 plate with handle

Let's take a momentary break from our amazing Parts Festival to enjoy another look back into LEGO® element history. Skye Barnick suggested we discuss a tiny change to a familiar piece that occurred in 1983 and stepping up to the task we have Inthert, a UK-based builder who participated in our earlier Parts Festival this year.

Coming alongside the introduction of the beloved minifigure in 1978, the 1x2 plate with handlebars (Mini Handle - Design ID 3839) was among the first LEGO® elements to feature 3.18mm diameter bars, essentially meaning it was perfect for being held by tiny minifigure hands… or was it?

2019 Parts Fest #2: Yvonne Doyle's marine research

Our next Parts Festival participant is Yvonne Doyle, a UK-based Irish builder who likes to dabble in the different scales offered by Belville and Scala. She also has the rare honour of having been immortalised as a green Classic Space minifigure, in LEGO® Ideas 21109 Exo Suit. While other participants have seemingly battled with using the Friends marine multipack parts, Yvonne has flourished!

Biff is Buffing

Biff is buffing his quarter scale model car. The new pieces from Mini Accessory, No. 11 in Silver Metallic ( 50018 | 6266977 ) are interesting and great for attachment points, while the little Octopus from Accessories, Marine Life, No. 1 in Vibrant Coral (6262127|49595) reminded me of some cleaning cloths.

Fabuland Lives On: the hidden side

This year marks 40 years since The LEGO Group (TLG) launched the FABULAND® theme, which ran until 1989. To celebrate this, we've been running an occasional series of articles here at New Elementary called Fabuland Lives On! We're examining the surprising effect that this theme for 3-7 year olds has had upon the LEGO® System, and the hearts of fans.

So far we have looked at the colours and the elements that are still present in sets today. This third post focuses on some of Elspeth's favourite Fabuland elements that popped up unexpectedly in other themes over the years but sadly are no longer in production; the hidden side of Fabuland.

Old Elementary: Insectoids legs

Duncan Lindbo returns today with another look at a weird LEGO® part from history and how it might be used in your creations today.

Today, we’re going to venture back into the dark days of the 1990s once again and take a look at some more parts from the Insectoids theme. Last time, we looked at some of the properties of the Insectoid wings; this time we’re looking at the legs. Bug legs! Weird biomechanical big legs!

Old Elementary: The 1x2 plate with the arm that moved

Today's look back into LEGO® part history comes from Felix Stiessen, an avid LEGO enthusiast from Austria who is always interested in discovering new and interesting techniques to exploit the unique geometry of certain LEGO bricks.

Making its first appearance in 1984’s LEGO Castle range, the basic design of the LEGO® 1x2 plate with a vertical bar attachment has now been around for 35 years. However, in 2008 LEGO introduced a subtle design change that might have gone unnoticed by many.

This article will explore the difference between Design ID 4623 - Plate W. Hook 1X2, and Design ID 88072 - Plate 1X2 W. Vertical Schaft (sic).

How the LEGO® element team designed the new gear wheels

We’ve really enjoyed this latest Parts Festival, which now draws to a close, and we are so grateful to the talented artists who gave us their time and creative talents for everyone’s pleasure; in no particular order – Jessica Farrell, Inthert, Jaap Bijl, Duncan Lindbo, Samuel Pister, Sarah Beyer and Jaroslaw Walter.

To complete the festival we will take another look at what are arguably the most noticeable parts in the selection; the new gear wheel plates that we affectionately named ‘splat gears’. You may recall back in March, Elspeth wrote a fantastic post listing the different kinds of LEGO gears through history, including an examination of the new splat gear family.

It seems LEGO enjoyed her post too! – we later received this fascinating email from Marinus Jasperse on behalf of the Element Design Platform Team at the LEGO Group about the development of the new gear family...