LEGO® Friends review: 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket

A Space subtheme – or should that be supertheme? – has been spread across several lines in January 2024 sets, and LEGO® Friends get their fair share with sets 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket and 42603 Stargazing Camping Vehicle. I've posted my review of the latter on New Elementary's Patreon and social accounts, but first let's look at the Mars base, which features a unique design with two large quarter-dome modules along an airlock; a semi-realistic design with some amusing details. Step aboard!

LEGO® Icons review and interview: 10331 Kingfisher Bird

LEGO® Icons is testing the waters with new subject matter. 10331 Kingfisher Bird is the latest black-boxed 18+ set and hopes to entice new builders with its entry-level pricing. Can it succeed? Let's dive in...

Our review features excerpts from our roundtable discussion with Senior Designer Sven Franic, who was responsible for this set's design. Some text has been edited for readability.

LEGOⓇ Marvel™ set review: 76269 Avengers Tower

We took a look at all the new elements present LEGO® Marvel™ 76269 Avengers Tower in our parts review. Now it's time to look at Avengers Tower, assembled.

 

LEGO® Friends build review and interview: 42639 Andrea's Modern Mansion

With 2275 parts, 42639 Andrea’s Modern Mansion is the largest LEGO® Friends set to date. These parts include a lot of interesting new elements which we’ve already taken a look at, but now it’s time to start building!

LEGO® Technic™ set reviews: 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer and 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck

Here at New Elementary we’re looking ahead to what the New Year will bring to the LEGO® Technic™ theme with two January 2024 sets: 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer and 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck. Since neither set is very large, we’ll take a look at their elements and their builds together.

LEGO® Star Wars™ set review: 75371 Chewbacca

LEGO® Star Wars™ sets are stereotypically expensive horizontal Light Bluish Gray, Dark Red or Dark Blue objects made of wedge plates and featuring detailed minifigures. Alongside those, there have also been sets of larger figures, almost since the theme's beginning. I remember looking at 7194 Yoda in a catalog 21 years ago in 2002 when I was seven and wondering how many pieces it would have... it has 1075, which doesn't sound that much in 2023.

In comparison, 75371 Chewbacca has 2319 pieces - over twice more - although it doesn't look much larger. Of course, many modern parts have been made character building a lot easier than it was in the bricky 2000s. How does our first large-scale LEGO System model of Chewbacca manage to capture the classic first mate of the Millenium Falcon?

LEGO® NINJAGO® review: mech sets 71806, 71807 & 71808

Over the years we've seen many mechs in the LEGO® NINJAGO® line-up and their builds have increasingly evolved through time. In 2024 the designers are introducing new elements to bring even more build options and play features.

Today we’ll be taking a look at 3 mechs from the first wave of 2024 sets; 71806 Cole's Earth Mech, 71807 Sora's Tech Mech and 71808 Kai's Fire Mech.

LEGO® Spring Festival review: 80112 Auspicious Dragon

I have already examined the larger of the two LEGO® Spring Festival sets for 2024, 80113 Family Reunion Celebration and spoken to its designer, Niels Mølgård Frederiksen about it's inception. Today it's the turn of the smaller release, 80112 Auspicious Dragon.

LEGO® Monkie Kid™ review: 80054 Megapolis City 5th Anniversary

Today I'm taking a look at LEGO® Monkie Kid 80054 Megapolis City 5th Anniversary, which contains some very interesting new pieces, and even a new LEGO colour! 

LEGO® Spring Festival review: 80113 Family Reunion Celebration

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Niels Mølgård Frederiksen, Associate Creative Lead for LEGO® Monkie Kid and designer of this LEGO® Spring Festival release, 80113 Family Reunion Celebration. So it's great that I also have the chance to have a proper look at the set to review for you, and there's a lot to enjoy.

LEGO® Ideas review: 21343 Viking Village

Skål! Today’s set takes us back in time, in terms of both world history and LEGO® history. So raise your horn of mead and toast to the return of the Vikings.

LEGO® Friends Sea Rescue sets review & MOC: 41734, 41736, 41752

Earlier this year the environmentally conscious Heartlake City received a revamped sea rescue sub-theme in the form of LEGO® Friends sets 41734 Sea Rescue Boat, 41736 Sea Rescue Center and 41752 Sea Rescue Plane. Today I'll be taking a look at the noteworthy parts and builds of all three sets before attempting an alternate build using their combined inventories.

 

LEGO® Technic review: 42159 Yamaha MT‑10 SP

Yamaha's top-of-the-line "hyper naked" motorcycle is wearing LEGO® Technic clothes. 42159 Yamaha MT-10 SP is the second 1:5 scale motorbike from The LEGO Group, but plenty more besides the manufacturer has changed on this successor. Overhauled gearbox pieces revolutionize shifting, while plenty of regular parts get a major aesthetic upgrade with better sprue mark positioning.

Itty bitty bits aside, the overall bike embodies "The Dark Side of Japan"—Yamaha's MT-10 SP catchphrase—with aggressive styling. Broad strokes of black and minimal fairings suit my taste in motorcycles, even if there are a few areas where I question Yamaha's choices.

LEGO® Disney™ Wish review: 43231 Asha’s Cottage

LEGO recently revealed three sets based on the upcoming Disney™ animated movie, Wish. With the movie releasing on 22 November in the US, we thought it was the perfect time to take a look at the middle-sized set, 43231 Asha's Cottage. 

Let's take a look inside and see what new elements it brings.

LEGO® Icons set review: 10326 Natural History Museum

Inquisitive minds rejoice as a new museum has opened downtown, featuring exhibitions from the past and the future. I took a look at the elements the museum is made of in Part 1, and today we’ll wander through its halls and study the artifacts on display, in this build review of LEGO® Icons 10326 Natural History Museum.

LEGO® DREAMZzz™ review: 71469 Nightmare Shark Ship

There a generally 2 types of action & adventure theme flagship sets: the Castle and the Vehicle. I usually find the Castle type more interesting as they tend to offer unique architectural structures. The flagship of the LEGO® DREAMZzz™ theme is of the Vehicle type: a pirate ship, stuck in a shark, with jet engines.

For the last of my LEGO DREAMZzz reviews I'm taking a look at 71469 Nightmare Shark Ship. Spooked yet? You will be!

LEGO® Icons review + MOC: 10329 Tiny Plants

The Botanical Collection is growing! Coming 1 December 2023, LEGO® ICONS™10329 Tiny Plants is a selection of miniaturized carnivorous, tropical and desert plants, each in their own little pot. Join us as we weed out all the new recoloured elements (there are quite a few!) and take a look at these adorable tiny plants.

LEGO® DREAMZzz™ review: 71459 Stable of Dream Creatures

Even characters in action & adventure themes need a day off to relax. 71459 Stable of Dream Creatures offers such a setting from the boisterous madness that is the LEGO® DREAMZzz™theme.

There are no bad guys featured in this set and the only weapon is a wood-chopping axe. But beyond that, is it a good set and does it have interesting pieces? Let's take a look.

LEGO® DREAMZzz™ review: 71460 Mr. Oz's Spacebus

Would you step onto a school bus that's a also a space shuttle and driven by your physics teacher and his chimpanzee sidekick? I might think twice before stepping in, but this is space travel after all, so how could you resist? LEGO® DREAMZzz™ 71460 Mr. Oz's Spacebus presents such a scenario; let's see if this dream voyage is worth the ride.

LEGO® Icons build review: 10318 Concorde

Fasten your seat belts, it's the final instalment of our LEGO® Concorde review, to help you decide whether this sizeable model (measuring 105cm / 42 inches long) is worth buying and displaying in your home.

In earlier articles we examined this set's new moulds, and its recoloured and printed pieces.