Birds is the word

1 January 2015 sees the launch of the next Ideas set, 21301 Birds, designed by British LEGO (and bird) fan Tom Poulsom. I had the pleasure of meeting him last week at the massive Brick 2014 show in London, and can bring you some of his insight in this review of the set. Being sort-of-British myself I can't help feeling proud that two Ideas sets released within months of one another are by British fans, and it's an interesting coincidence that unlike other Ideas sets, neither are based on existing intellectual properties (IPs).

AFOLCON 2014

Just a note to say I've no time to put a post together this week... as AFOLCON/Brick 2014 is here in London, and today consisted of some 200 or so adult fans enjoying seminars and setting up displays in the MAAASSIVE exhibition hall. However I'll try to post bits and bobs on social media, so keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook feeds. Here are some tidbits from today.

The best thing about today was someone quietly pointing out that the minifig heads from Minecraft are 'in System' after all, so I was wrong in my recent post on the subject. By placing a 1x2 jumper and a 2x2 jumper next to each other, two Minecraft heads align. Now that is nice.

BIONICLE 2015: Kopaka

As part of our BIONICLE 'season', Scott Barnick (Aanchir) now turns his attention to some of the actual 2015 sets and how they compare to the originals.

Hello once more, New Elementary readers. Today I am here to bring you this site’s first true LEGO® BIONICLE set review! 70788 Kopaka Master of Ice is one of the larger BIONICLE sets for this upcoming wave, with 97 pieces and a $19.99 USD/£14.99 GBP price tag. This price might seem a bit steep for fans that are used to the prices of more traditional LEGO building sets, or even for BIONICLE fans that are used to Toa costing between $7 and $13 apiece, but this set’s price per piece is actually fairly consistent with many Toa sets of the past.

BIONICLE 2015: masks & weapons

Continuing our fiesta of constraction, Scott Barnick (Aanchir) furthers his examination of new BIONICLE parts by discussing the Toa’s weapons, masks, and a little bit about the enemies they’ll be facing in 2015.

As creative director Cerim Manovi said at the BIONICLE panel at New York Comic Con, “A Toa without weapons is not a Toa”. BIONICLE has always featured lots of ornate mechanical weaponry, and this year’s sets are no different. Also, taking cues from the weapons of the Toa Nuva sets from 2002 and some of the Toa sets from 2004, most of the characters’ weapons perform a dual function, which sometimes involves combining two weapons into one or separating one weapon into two. Typically, one of these modes will be combat-oriented and another movement-oriented. In the new sets, the designers call these “battle mode” and “adrenalin mode”.

BIONICLE 2015: new parts

Regardless of how you feel about the LEGO® Group's constraction themes there's no denying the appeal and success of BIONICLE, which ran from 2001-2010. To mark its return we have a series of articles from mega-fan Scott Barnick (Aanchir). Today is the first of two parts that share the exclusive insight he recently gained into the new elements coming in 2015, and explains LEGO's interesting Character and Creature Building System.

It’s easy to overlook in certain corners of the online LEGO community, but lately there has been a LOT of hubbub surrounding the impending return of one of my all-time favorite LEGO themes: BIONICLE. The new LEGO BIONICLE theme is a reboot of the classic storyline, so many things have been changed, but some of the theme’s most timeless story elements and design principles have been retained or re-imagined for a new generation of fans.

New kid on the blocks

Following Tim G's review of 21113 The Cave, I've got one more minifig-scale Minecraft set to tell you about today. However I can imagine that many of you will be rolling your eyes, yawning at the simplicity of these sets and won't be forking out your dosh on a bunch of 2x bricks. But don't dismiss these sets too hurriedly; the level of interesting parts in 21114 The Farm really surprised me.

Plastic pixels

Mojang's popular video game Minecraft has become a winning partnership for LEGO®. This Saturday a new wave of sets will be released (but are already on shelves in some European Brand Stores) and for the first time these new sets are in minifig scale rather than microscale. Today Tim Goddard (Rogue Bantha) reviews the smallest set in the range: 21113 The Cave which will retail for GB£19.99 and has 249 pieces.

I cannot claim to know that much about the intricacies of Minecraft. I’ve never played it but obviously I have heard of it and have a fair idea of what it’s about. One thing that dominates (for me) most of what I’ve heard about the game is it’s comparison to LEGO. Is it the LEGO of the future, of the digital age? Well, probably not for me. It is undoubtably creative and uses that inspirational part of the brain that we LEGO builders use to create new and exciting things. But sitting in front of a screen for hours on end is not my idea of fun (at least not these days, many hours have been lost to Lara, Wipeout and others). This crossover set is my way into the Minecraft universe.

My favourite thing about the microscale Minecraft sets was that they contained lots of basic stuff; 1X1 tiles, plates and bricks. Yummy. Are the minifig scale sets going to be able to live up this? In many ways yes; let us investigate.

Play that same song

In case you're one of those people who have never watched Star Wars, let me explain the location which is the subject of this LEGO® summer Star Wars set, 75052 Mos Eisley Cantina: it's a seedy bar crowded with exotic alien creatures from the wrong side of the space-tracks, a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" where booze-fueled tempers continually boil over into senseless violence, usually resulting in death or dismemberment. In other words: the obvious choice for a child's toy.

Starting Blocks

Can LEGO® get any more popular? Er, yes. A few months ago, the pilot issue of a new printed magazine about the LEGO hobby appeared on shelves in UK newsagents, called Blocks. It proved popular enough for the publishers to go monthly, and the first issue will be on shelves this Thursday 23 October 2014. I'm quite excited, as I've contributed, so wanted to give it a plug in case you'd not heard of it.

It's not the first ever LEGO fan magazine of course; brilliant publications like BrickJournal and HispaBrick have been around a long time now. But with its wide distribution, Blocks aims strongly at casual/burgeoning fans as well as the hardcore fans. It takes a broad view of the LEGO world, giving the hobby of collecting equal placing alongside sets, building, and the non-ABS worlds of online and print. Whether it's your cup of tea or not, Blocks is an interesting development that I certainly think will bring awareness of the depth and breadth of the AFOL community to a much wider audience... yay, more AFOLs!

Carry on caravanning

It's been the most pleasant and consistent summer in England that I can recall since I arrived here two decades ago, but now October is here it feels like the sun may finally be gone. So it's a great time to hang on to a little sunshine by breaking out a Friends set, 41034 Summer Caravan, which is full of my favourite Friends hue, Medium Azure.