Showing posts with label Set review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Set review. Show all posts

04 February 2018

LEGO® Ideas 21313 Ship in a Bottle

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Sven Franic found some surprising things inside LEGO® Ideas 21313 Ship in a Bottle. The set has 962 pieces and is now available, for an RRP of £69.99 / US$69.99 / 69.99€. 

Another weird and wonderful set has recently emerged from the LEGO® Ideas platform. A team effort from fan designer Jake Sadovich and LEGO model designer Tiago Catarino went through what seems like a tough job: adapting a glass bottle into a feasible construction for a set.


01 February 2018

10260 Downtown Diner: Teal-icious Appetiser

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Elspeth De Montes will be dividing up her review of LEGO® Creator Expert 10260 Downtown Diner into delicious chunks. The set has 2480 pieces and is priced at £129.99/ US$169.99/ 149.99€/ 1399.00 DKK, but you have the chance of winning the set if you enter our building competition, Kill Teal (Volume 2)!

January 1st saw the release of LEGO® Creator Expert 10260 Downtown Diner.  The annual release of the next Modular Building is always a highly anticipated event, and this year’s offering is certainly an eye-catching model based on first appearances.

This first part of the review will focus on the comeback colour.  Yes, that famous LEGO colour known as Teal [[LDraw and Peeron] / Bright Bluish Green [TLG] / Dark Turquoise [BL] has arisen from its untimely death by the hands of Mark Stafford back in 2006.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the beautiful Bright Bluish Green water and bathe in the lush Teal bricks supplied in Downtown Diner.

26 November 2017

70922 The Joker Manor

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Somewhere in among designing his latest range of gorgeous Christmas ornaments, Chris McVeigh managed to find the time to crack open THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE 70922 The Joker Manor for us and, having assembled its 3444 pieces, dissected it again to locate all the exciting new and recoloured LEGO elements - including its completely new rollercoaster system! The set is now available priced £249.99 / US$269.99 / 269.99€.

The Joker Manor is a sprawling set that imagines Wayne Manor has been overtaken and aggressively remodelled by the Joker (as seen in THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE). It’s a brilliant display piece with a glitzy, colourful entrance, oversized spring-loaded boxing gloves, a garish, glaring tower, and naturally, giant “The Joker” branding. However, the real showstopper is the rollercoaster that encircles the manor. With this set LEGO introduces an all-new car and track system that is sure to appear in many upcoming product lines, from City to Creator Expert.


In this article I’ll closely examine the new rollercoaster elements, highlight other new parts, and discuss interesting recolours and reissues.

06 November 2017

10259 Winter Village Holiday Station

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Can we talk about Christmas yet? I guess so; LEGO® Creator Expert 10259 Winter Village Holiday Station



 has been available for over a month now (902 pieces, priced £74.99 / US$79.99 / 69.99€). Today, Sven Franic explores the new parts included and gets inspired to build.

A year since we saw the 10254 Winter Village Holiday Train, presumably picking up passengers randomly along the line, a train station is finally here to restore some order to the holiday chaos.



Although the Winter Village Holiday sets are part of the Creator Expert line, there isn't all that much expert in them. This is also acknowledged by the 12+ marking on the box compared to most other sets in the line which are 16+.

20 September 2017

70620 NINJAGO City

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Today, Chris McVeigh (powerpig) reviews the fantastic new range of LEGO® parts found in 70620 NINJAGO City, the largest of the sets from The LEGO NINJAGO Movie range, which went on sale this month priced at £259.99 / US$299.99 / 299.99€.


At 4867 parts, NINJAGO City is one of the biggest LEGO® sets ever. It's visually rich, incredibly detailed, and great fun to build.

The city itself is divided into three sections, coinciding with three hefty building guides. Level 1: The Old World is built atop a murky waterway. On that level you’ll find a fish market, robot maintenance room, and the base of the elevator. Level 2: The Street is a busy pedestrian area that is home to shops and services, including a comic book store, clothing store, and crab kitchen. Up on Level 3: The High Rise, you’ll find Lloyd’s and Misako’s shared apartment, a rooftop sushi restaurant, and a luxury bathroom.




In this article I’ll discuss new parts and how they’re used, highlight some of the more interesting recolours, and then look at the set’s clever roofing techniques.

17 August 2017

Gone fishin'

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Respect to Sven Franic. He received New Elementary's review copy of the LEGO® Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store, on Friday and by Monday he had delivered me a spectacular and thorough review of the parts, minifigures and colours in this huge and gorgeous new set. As if that wasn't enough, he had to leave for Slovenia that day... so, just in case the review needed more work, he took the set with him! Well, no more work was required but Sven has nevertheless sent us some "fishing holiday" pics.


14 August 2017

The early bird catches the fish

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Coming 1st September 2017, LEGO® Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store has 2,049 pieces - the highest number ever for a LEGO Ideas set - and will retail for £139.99 / US$149.99 / 149.99€. Sven Franic is here to tell you all about the colours, parts and minifigures you will find in this stunning fan-designed set.

I remember the day the LEGO® Ideas review results arrived with the news that the Old Fishing Store by fan builder Robert Bontenbal (RobenAnne) would be made into a set. A lot of us hoped for it, but never thought such a large project would be deemed feasible by the LEGO Ideas team. A particularly attractive feature was the colour scheme in Sand Green and the inclusion of so many accessories and animals, most notably the seagull which was only briefly featured with one of the characters in the 2013 collectible minifigures series 10.

27 May 2017

LEGO® Creator 10257 Carousel

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The LEGO® Creator line has been releasing an amusement park ride once a year for three years now, and this year's is released on June 1st (already available for VIPs) priced £159.99 / US$199.99 / 179.99€. With 2670 pieces, it's massive - measuring 38cm x 35cm (14” x 13”) and 32cm (12”) tall! Today, Sven Franic takes a detailed look at the new elements in the set. 


What makes this brightly coloured amusement park ride really shine is a clever symbiosis of circles. Round shapes have become increasingly less difficult to pull off in LEGO form with the introduction of many super-versatile parts which use a “hybrid” of systems. They combine both stud and anti-stud connections, as well as clip and bar or ball joint and socket connections, or delve into the world of Technic, sometimes incorporating three types of possible connection sub-systems in one brick.

17 May 2017

LEGO® Ideas 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V

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Blast off with Elspeth De Montes as she reviews the latest LEGO® Ideas set. Elspeth examines all the new interesting and printed pieces that come in this enormous set, and then describes cool techniques used in the build process.

LEGO Ideas set No.17, 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V has finally landed after a fairly lengthy wait in production orbit. The original fan designers Felix Stiessen (saabfan) and Valérie Roche (whatsuptoday) submitted their version of the Apollo 11 Mission Model to the LEGO Ideas platform back in August 2014 and achieved the required 10,000 supporters by November 2015. After passing review in June 2016, the final set is due in stores on 1 June 2017, with 1969 parts (a perfectly calculated number to reflect the year of man’s first steps on the moon) and a price tag of US$119.99/£109.99/119.99€. This is the largest set to be released within the Ideas theme to date, both in terms of part count and the model’s impressive 100cm final height... or length.

08 April 2017

Guggenheim, a museum made of LEGO® pieces

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The new LEGO® set 21035 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum® has just been released (priced £64.99 / US$79.99 / 69.99€, but at time of writing is cheaper than this at Amazon UK) and today I’m reviewing the build and highlighting the new pieces that come in the set.


06 March 2017

Minecraft 2017: the new parts

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What would Jonas Kramm (Legopard on Flickr) do with six LEGO® Minecraft sets? We will find out in the coming weeks, but first, to bring you up to speed he's written a great rundown of the pieces in the new range: 21129 The Mushroom Island, 21130 The Nether Railway, 21131 The Ice Spikes, 21132 The Jungle Temple, 21133 The Witch Hut and 21134 The Waterfall Base. He's even added a helpful catch-up of other interesting parts the theme has introduced over the years.


The LEGO® Group has been producing sets in minifigure scale within the LEGO Minecraft theme since 2014, but these sets still seem to be pretty unpopular in the AFOL community. That is probably the reason why nobody noticed that a new wave of LEGO Minecraft sets popped up in the product line.

I was the lucky one on the New Elementary team to receive the six new sets to give you a look at the new parts… perhaps I am the only one who has ever played Minecraft?

27 February 2017

Bucking the trend

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Today, Elspeth De Montes gets imaginative with 21029 Buckingham Palace, creating some alternate builds for us, as well as analysing the parts that come in this set. Also, sheep.

As the capital of the UK, London has proved to be a popular location for LEGO® Architecture designers; 21023 Big Ben and the Skylines set 21034 London are both from the city. In addition, London landmarks appear in the Creator Expert theme with the huge 4163-piece set, 10253 Big Ben and the even larger 10214 Tower Bridge which has 4287 parts. With 780 parts, 21029 Buckingham Palace was released in September 2016 and is priced at £44.99 / US$49.99 / 49.99€.

15 February 2017

Brickheadz: Super Heroes & Disney

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This review of LEGO® BrickHeadz MARVEL Super Heroes & Disney's Beauty and the Beast lists their new LEGO parts and printed pieces.
The LEGO® BrickHeadz are available today on VIP Early Access! They are on general release from March 1 priced £9.99/ US$9.99/ 9.99€. Sven Franic returns to examine the remaining sets.

As I said last time, there are certain pointers which tell me this theme could be a great success. Apart from its collectible perspective, the theme is jam-packed with pieces in new colours and exclusive printed elements, and I would assume this kind of budgetary flexibility isn't given to every LEGO design team.

Previously I built (and destroyed) the characters from The LEGO Batman Movie for your delectation; today it is the turn of the MARVEL LEGO Super Heroes and the characters from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

13 February 2017

Brickheadz: LEGO® Batman Movie

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Review 41585 Batman LEGO® BrickHeadz from the LEGO Batman Movie
This week we are doing early reviews of LEGO® BrickHeadz, a fun range of brick-built, heavily stylised pop-culture figures. They are released on March 1 priced £9.99/ US$9.99/ 9.99€ but VIP Early Access started on February 15. To get inside their headz and see what makes them up, we welcome back Sven Franic.

BrickHeadz are a novelty in the LEGO collectors’ world, and if other collectable series are anything to judge by, the first series is usually the one that ends up being most sought after, whether this was the intent or not. Series 1 of BrickHeadz so far consists of 10 buildable figures: four characters from The LEGO Batman Movie, four MARVEL Super Heroes and two Disney characters.

 Today, we will look at what comes inside the four LEGO Batman Movie figures: Batman, Batgirl, Robin and the Joker.

Which LEGO® BrickHeadz should you buy?

05 February 2017

Towering achievement

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Have you all already decided whether or not to buy 71040 Disney Castle? At £299.99 / US$349.99 / €349.99, the first obstacle is cost. Beyond that, if you are a Disney fan, I imagine it is a must-have. If you crave large, challenging LEGO® builds this is definitely something out of the ordinary. If you love to wow your friends with your latest LEGO display, this is a great choice — aside from being appealing and highly detailed with loads of rooms inside referencing different Disney films, it is a good shape for display in that the model’s footprint is relatively small compared to the overall height. We even have a human being to show you just how big it is...

28 December 2016

Ekimu and Umarak

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With 2016 drawing to a close, we are going to spend a couple of posts looking back at LEGO® BIONICLE®, a theme which ended (for a second time) this year. On 30th December we have an interview with the team who were responsible for the sets, elements, story and marketing but to kick things off today, Scott Barnick examines two of the final sets released in the theme.

Hello, New Elementary readers! I’m going to be reviewing this year’s final two Bionicle sets, 71312 Ekimu the Mask Maker and 71316 Umarak the Destroyer. Sadly, these will also likely be the last Bionicle set reviews here on New Elementary for the foreseeable future, since this is the final wave for the current generation of Bionicle.

26 December 2016

Toy Train

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Happy Boxing Day everyone! To keep your eyes entertained as you recover on the sofa, Elspeth De Montes (AzureBrick) has a festive review for you from the LEGO® Creator Expert Winter Village theme.

'Tis the season to build LEGO, tra-la-la-la-fah-la-la-la. With the nights now drawn in and the festivities upon us, what better time to review the politically-correctly named 10254 Winter Holiday Train priced at £69.99/US$99.99/89.99 with 734 pieces. The set is rated 12+ and is part of the LEGO Creator Expert line but it is actually a very straightforward build with no new techniques or difficult build portions. I can say this with some authority as I followed the retail description: “Gather the family for some festive LEGO building fun with this charming model…” and built this with my only 12+ family member, my very novice LEGO building partner.

24 December 2016

Assembly Square: part two

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Now to review the new LEGO® Modular, 10255 Assembly Square, in a different fashion. Last time I examined all the new and interesting pieces; this time I'll take a look at the build. There is, naturally, too much to talk about so I will limit myself to explaining where the completely new LEGO parts are used and some of my favourite techniques.



21 December 2016

Assembly Square: part one

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The new LEGO® Creator Expert "Modular", 10255 Assembly Square, will get 2017 off to a magnificent start. For many fans, Modulars are the highlight of the LEGO year and today we will take a look at all the new parts, recoloured parts and printed parts that come in this amazing set.


17 November 2016

London Skyline: set review and LEGO® Designer interview

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The LEGO® Group have released several sets in 2016 that have a British connection (which is handy given that they just so happen to be opening a new flagship store in London's Leicester Square today). We’ve had 10253 Big Ben, 21029 Buckingham Palace, 40220 London Bus as well as 21306 The Beatles Yellow Submarine and 21307 Caterham Seven 620R. Now we can reveal another: 21034 London, part of the ‘Skylines’ series from LEGO Architecture. It is now available from the Leicester Square store (limited to one per customer) ahead of its worldwide release on January 1 2017. It costs £44.99 and the designer of the set is Rok Žgalin Kobe, who I had the honour of speaking to at the special pre-opening event at Leicester Square yesterday, and he mentioned many interesting facts about the model.