LEGO® Star Wars review: 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina - The Parts

Thomas Jenkins (on Instagram) has written for us previously, revealing his Iron Builder techniques, and today joins us as a regular contributor! He's facing 3187 pieces in LEGO® Star Wars 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina and so we're dividing his review; starting with the elements today. The set is already available to VIP members, with general release on 1 October priced US$349.99/ CA$449.99/ £319.99. The product in this article was provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the release of LEGO® 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina largely thanks to some long-awaited fan-favourite characters making their first appearance in ABS form.

But what other new LEGO parts can builders look forward to when they step inside this “wretched hive of scum and villainy”? There aren’t a lot but there are a few treasures to be found among the sea of tan bricks!

LEGO® Iconic review & alt builds: 40424 Winter Snowball Fight

Today we greet another new contributor:  Lee (city son on Flickr) who hails from Hong Kong. We sent Lee a copy of LEGO® Iconic 40424 Winter Snowball Fight to review, plus he also designed several creations of his own using only the parts in this small set. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

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

LEGO® Harry Potter 75978 Diagon Alley: the build

Before I hand over to Jonas Kramm for his superb LEGO® Harry Potter review, I need to mention an unrelated-and-yet-related subject: New Elementary supports transgender people. We do not support the heedless views now being broadcast by the original writer of Harry Potter. Many of you may prefer we just stuck to the LEGO escapism but I feel it's essential for anyone purchasing this product to consider their own standpoint. The product in this article was provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this. Okay: now over to Jonas for the LEGO fun, and it's a corker!

We already posted about the reveal and the new parts of LEGO® Harry Potter 75978 Diagon Alley, so today it’s time to take a look at the actual build and its most interesting building techniques. With 5544 pieces the set is the second biggest Harry Potter set to this day; only 71043 Hogwarts Castle has more. As expected, such a huge build comes with many things to explore, so without further ado, let’s get started!

LEGO® Monkie Kid review: 80010 Demon Bull King

Our coverage of LEGO® Monkie Kid continues today with Inthert taking on 80010 Demon Bull King; examining its exclusive and rare parts as well as what interest lies in the build. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The suitably terrifying Demon Bull King comes with 3 minifigures, 1051 parts and is priced at £74.99 / US$89.99 / 77.97€.

LEGO® Super Mario 2020: The Prints and... Stickers?

Today, Ben Davies continues his thorough examination of the new pieces in the LEGO® Super Mario sets released this month. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

Following our coverage of the LEGO® Super Mario’s new moulds and recolours, today we’re turning our attention to the many new printed and stickered pieces that have been introduced for the theme.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75273 Poe Dameron's X-wing Fighter

We're harking back to one of the January LEGO® Star Wars sets today: 75273 Poe Dameron's X-wing Fighter which has been reviewed by Ryan Welles. The product in this article was provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

Three thoughts spring into my mind when beholding yet another LEGO® Star Wars X-wing fighter: those resistance people sure like them X-wings; Poe Dameron is a lucky so-and-so for flying almost each and every one of the these; and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That last thought is what counts most here because ever since the release of X-wing set 9493 in 2012, the design has stayed virtually the same, with its iconic white, grey and red colours. New slope, wedge and arch pieces have given the vessel a slightly more polished look and the mechanism to open the wings has altered somewhat, but the basic idea has remained unchanged for eight years.

LEGO® Super Mario 2020: Recolours Galore

With the imminent release of the new theme LEGO® Super Mario on 1 August, Ben Davies thought this was the perfect time to tell you about all the LEGO parts that come in new colors across the range. Namely; 40414 Monty Mole & Super Mushroom, 71360 Adventures with Mario, 71362 Guarded Fortress, 71363 Desert Pokey, 71364 Whomp’s Lava Trouble, 71365 Piranha Plant Power Slide, 71366 Boomer Bill Barrage, 71367 Mario’s House & Yoshi, 71368 Toad’s Treasure Hunt, 71369 Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle, 71370 Fire Mario Power-Up Pack, 71371 Propeller Mario Power-Up Pack, 71372 Cat Mario Power-Up Pack, 71373 Builder Mario Power-Up Pack, 71376 Thwomp Drop and 71377 King Boo and the Haunted Yard. These products were provided to us for free by LEGO; the author's opinions were not biased by this. 

When we spoke to LEGO® Super Mario lead designer Jonathan Bennink in May, he teased that nearly 200 new elements had been introduced for the brand new theme. In the second part of our comprehensive examination of the LEGO Super Mario range, we’ll be taking a closer look at the new and rare colours of parts introduced in the upcoming sets.

LEGO® Monkie Kid review: 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech – The Build

Now, in Part 2 of his review of LEGO® Monkie Kid 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech, Jonas Kramm takes a look at the various builds in the set and highlights the interesting aspects and techniques for you before giving his verdict. 

Last time, we took a detailed look at all the new pieces in 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech and were blown away by the crazy amount of Warm Gold Drum Lacquered/ Metallic Gold, so now it’s about time to see what they get used for.

LEGO® Monkie Kid review: 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech – The Parts

Our next LEGO® Monkie Kid review comes from Jonas Kramm who takes on 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech over the course of two posts. The set is available now and sells for US$149.99/ £129.99/ 129.99€.

With 1692 pieces, the Monkey King Warrior Mech is the second largest set of the first Monkie Kid wave. Today we will take a look at what’s in the box, list all the new bits in the usual New E fashion and learn that King Midas might have been involved in the design process.

LEGO® DOTS review: 41913 Bracelet Mega Pack

Andrew Barnick returns to review the latest wave of LEGO® DOTS sets for us and to highlight which parts come in new colours, starting with 41913 Bracelet Mega Pack which is available now priced £19.99 / $24.99 / 24.36€.

Both being fans of bright colors and of letting our LEGO® fandom show in our attire, my twin sister and I have been extremely excited about the LEGO DOTS theme ever since it was revealed. So when I was offered the chance to review some of the new Dots sets for this summer, I was extremely enthusiastic. For my first review, I’ll be covering 41913 Bracelet Mega Pack, which offers an abundance of what I love about the Dots theme—and yet which didn’t come without its share of disappointment, not to mention a little bit of mathematics. Read on to see what I’m talking about...

LEGO® Technic review: 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R

Applications for volunteer New E contributors close soon: Friday 17 July 11.59pm GMT

Victor Pruvost returns today with a fascinating look at the latest LEGO® Technic motorbike, which contains new elements that may be useful even in non-Technic builds.

Today we take a look at the latest motorbike from the LEGO® Technic line: 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R. It comes with 646 pieces (the highest part count yet for a Technic bike), including some elements that might be interesting even for System builders.

LEGO® Chinese New Year review: 80104 Lion Dance

Ben Davies returns today to examine the next in our collection of 2020 LEGO® sets introduced for the Asian market; 80104 Lion Dance

We recently examined the new parts introduced in 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair, which we found to contain a wealth of recolored parts and new prints. Excitingly, there are even more new elements (and interesting techniques) to discover in the Temple Fair’s smaller counterpart, 80104 Lion Dance.

LEGO® Monkie Kid review & alt build: 80009 Pigsy’s Food Truck

Today we welcome back super-Spacer and co-creator of Lego Space: Building the Future (Amazon USA: affiliate link), Tim Goddard (on Instagram) for the first of our examinations of sets from LEGO® Monkie Kid. If you need an overview of this exciting new Asian theme check out our article, otherwise read on and see what new parts Tim found in 80009 Pigsy’s Food Truck – and enjoy his original creation, made from parts in the set!

Monkie Kid. It’s not just Ninjago with a lockdown haircut, apparently. Let’s see, shall we…

Pigsy’s food truck is a massive lump of a 10 module-wide food wagon. The scale is well off anything in the LEGO City range but you might get away with it put next to the new scale of Speed Champion sets. You will not get away with it next to a minifigure.

LEGO® 40411 Creative Fun 12-in-1: Professor's One Set MOCs

Today we welcome the Professor (on Instagram) for an altogether different kind of LEGO® review! He's a French engineer who loves LEGO Star Wars and Creator – especially the 3-in-1 sets, as he loves to create his own alternate models – which made him ideal to take on the new set 40411 Creative Fun 12-in-1. This is a gift-with-purchase in many parts of the world from July 1 to 26 with qualifying purchases over $85 / €85 / £85.  He added so many of his own builds, it's now a 50-in-1! 

According to me, LEGO is synonymous with infinite play. I love making several creations from just the parts of one set – what I call One Set MOC. This is the very essence of LEGO. Only limited by your imagination!

LEGO® Star Wars review & original builds: 75272 Sith Tie Fighter

Inthert (on Instagram & Flickr) returns today not only to review LEGO® Star Wars 75272 Sith Tie Fighter but to also use its parts, along with his own collection, to create his own fantastic original Star Wars models! The set has 470 elements, three minifigures and is available now priced at £64.99 / US$79.99 / 69.99€.

The Parts

Upon its release at the start of 2020, the Sith Tie Fighter was one of two sets to feature some new wedge plates (alongside Speed Champions 76898 Formula E Panasonic Jaguar Racing GEN2 Car & Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY, which Duncan Lindbo previously reviewed).

LEGO® Disney review: 43182 Mulan's Training Grounds

Today we are examining a LEGO® Disney set which, for its size, packs in a lot of interesting parts: 43182 Mulan's Training Grounds.

It is not to be confused with the first Mulan set, 41151 Mulan's Training Day, which was released in 2018 and was swiftly followed by… no more. Until 2020 that is, when she was granted a Storybook Adventure (which includes a training ground) and today’s focus, Mulan's Training Grounds. That Mulan, she loves the training. 

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder

Ryan Welles returns today with a look at one of the smaller LEGO® Star Wars 2020 sets: 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder.

LEGO® Star Wars has been around since 1999, coinciding with the release of The Phantom Menace, and the variety of possible subjects for sets has since become broader with every new movie or television series being released. Despite the incredible amount of new additions to the legacy, sets from the original trilogy have proven to be most popular.

This also explains the various iterations released of the same vessel, including the most recent entry, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. First seen in A New Hope, the vehicle has seen a total number of four entries as a minifigure-scale set. The 2020 version, set 75271, comes with 224 pieces and is a further improvement of the similar set released three years ago, 75173 Luke's Landspeeder. It makes use of several new bracket pieces released in the meantime.

LEGO® 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair review: the parts

The largest set so far within the LEGO® Chinese New Year subtheme is 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair. With 1664 elements, including 14 minifigures, this set was first released in January 2020 priced at £89.99 / US$119.99 / 99.99€. While this is a large set, what's even more exciting are the sheer number of new elements inside the box... so stand by for a veritable buffet of new elements.



Okay, we realise that it nearly June now, so 'new' might seem a bit hopeful, and yet many of these elements remain exclusive to this set. There are also a large number that have only appeared in one other set.  So we definitely felt it was worth dedicating a post concentrating on the new elements, and those of interest either for their rarity or history. Coming soon, we also have an interview with the designer of this set, Markus Rollbühler, where I ask some of the questions that arose during the process of discovering the new elements and building his set.

LEGO® Accessories review: 40419 Harry Potter Hogwarts students

Our second and final review of the new LEGO® accessory packs of minifigures features characters from the Harry Potter universe, as Erik H. from HokayBricks explains. These sets are released 1 June 2020 and Brickset estimates they will cost US$12.99/£11.99 but this is unconfirmed.

This accessory pack includes four minifigures and the pieces and instructions needed to build a small bookcase. The bookcase build is simple but effective. It does not include any new or exclusive parts, but considering that this set is likely to be purchased several times over by some customers I'm sure any number of MOCs could benefit from the parts included here. The interest here, however, is all about the minifigures.

LEGO® Accessories review: 40418 Marvel Super Heroes Falcon & Black Widow

There are new LEGO® accessory packs featuring minifigures being revealed today and Erik H.  from HokayBricks is here to talk you through them, starting with set 40418 featuring characters from the Marvel Super Heroes universe. (Tomorrow: Harry Potter!) These sets are released 1 June 2020 and Brickset estimates they will cost US$12.99/£11.99 but this is unconfirmed.

This accessory pack includes four minifigures and the pieces and instructions needed to build an energy turret stud-shooter - or in this case, a cylinder-shooter. The build is simple but effective. It includes two full sets of six Transparent Fluorescent Green/ Trans-Neon Green 1x1 round bricks. The build does not include any new or exclusive parts, but the minifigures do!