Review: 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS from LEGO® Technic

Ryan Welles (merman) returns to review a thrilling new LEGO® Technic set, 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

For the past couple of years, the LEGO® Technic range has given the aficionados of gears, pins, axles and beams more than they could have possibly hoped for. Still, the adult community committed to this product line which was launched almost forty years ago, is among the most critical of all AFOLs. To most of them a perfect Technic set does not exist and there is always room for improvement. Perhaps that is the charm of being a Technic builder. In recent years, Technic has undergone a massive improvement in both set quality and parts count. But it comes with a price tag as well.

Eggs, balloons and buns

After hating the initial images, I was pleasantly surprised to see some LEGO® Angry Birds sets 'in the brick' recently... full of craziness, fun colours and those cute piggies left me squealing with delight. Now, our angry mummy bird (too many nappies to change now she has twins), Elspeth De Montes, has written a review revealing some of the most interesting new parts included in this range.

It is time for another one of my New Elementary reviews and this time I turn my eyes to 75824 Pig City Teardown. Last time, when reviewing 10247 Ferris Wheel, I had to apologise for not actually building the set but this time I can proudly say “here’s one I prepared earlier…” and show off my own review over on The Brothers Brick. I'll link to the review at the end as I want to show you all the lovely details first.

Enter the Hunter

We return to our LEGO® BIONICLE reviews today and this time it is the turn of Andrew Barnick to look at one of the 2016 sets, 71310 Umarak the Hunter.

Bionicle’s second year may have brought new forms and allies for the heroic Toa, but what are heroes without a villain to fight? Umarak the Hunter is the Toa’s newest foe, and may be one of the most impressive villain sets of the rebooted Bionicle theme. Umarak may share the $19.99/£14.99/19.99€ price point with the largest standalone Toa sets, but at 172 pieces, this set has more parts than any other set in the rebooted Bionicle theme (including more expensive combo sets like last year’s 70795 Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder or this year’s 71311 Kopaka and Melum Unity Set). And as is to be expected for a new Bionicle set, many of those parts are brand-new designs and recolors. Let’s take a look!

New Brickset features

A quick post to alert you to two fantastic community resources regarding LEGO® colours and parts which Huw Millington has now integrated to Brickset, making the world's most popular fan site about LEGO even better!

Nexo-Classic Household Appliances: Elspeth De Montes

All week we've been enjoying amazing creations that use a selection of new 2016 LEGO® parts, built exclusively for New Elementary by a fantastic bunch of AFOLs from the UK. It's been all Spacers so far but today we have one last builder who is not a Spacer: Elspeth De Montes. She brought things firmly back down to a domestic setting!

The shape of the Nexo shield caused her to think of an ironing board. "It’s not exactly going to win the Dyson innovation award for Most Stable Ironing Board," admits Elspeth, but it certainly is delightful I'm sure you will agree.

Nexo-Classic Space: Peter Reid

All week we've had excellent Spacers (Drew Hamilton, Jason Briscoe, Tim Goddard, Jeremy Williams and David Alexander Smith) building gorgeous things with this bunch of new LEGO ® parts. Today it is the turn of Pete Reid; co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future and the designer of 21109 Exo Suit, with its wee adorable robot turtle. Once again he has employed the masterful skills of Chris Salt to hone the loveliness of the imagery.

Grab a cup of tea first. Strong, British tea. You're going to want to scroll slowly. Over to Pete...

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Asteroids

First up, a homage to a classic arcade game, Asteroids. Only a couple of pieces are actually attached to other pieces. I'm not sure laying out elements like this counts as a proper LEGO model.

Nexo-Classic Space: David Alexander Smith

We're back for another day of Classic Space builds inspired by some of the new LEGO® parts released this year. Following hot on the trail of Drew Hamilton, Jason Briscoe, Tim Goddard and Jeremy Williams we have David Alexander Smith. I first noticed David because he creates all sorts of odd things in a primitive style but most recently he has become known for his charming series of Space Dinos which emulate not only Classic Space but also other toys of the 1980s.

I sent David the same parts as everyone else except for the white 2x2 wedges, and he used all the supplied parts in one creation. Let's hand over to him now to see what he made...

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The little bag of Nexo Knights elements I was sent immediately got my sci-fi juices flowing. As a Classic Space builder the pieces cried out to me to be used in a whole host of ways, although I suspect a space tortoise wouldn’t be the most obvious choice.

Nexo-Classic Space: Jeremy Williams

It's day four of our investigation of seven new 2016 LEGO® elements. So far Drew Hamilton, Jason Briscoe and Tim Goddard have all taken on our super Spacer challenge: today, it's the multitalented Jeremy Williams (Bricking It). Without further ado I will hand over to Jez.

Pilot seat

This uses the Nexo Bot torso element (Design ID: 24078) as a control column, allowing me to attach two levers and a display.

The newer style of 1x1 tile with clip introduced in 2013 which has a C-shaped clip (15712) fits onto the torso nicely, whereas the old, more angular clip (2555) doesn't fit as well, for some strange reason. This warrants further investigation!

I also placed the seat in a mockup cockpit, shown below.

Nexo-Classic Space: Tim Goddard

Today it is the turn of Tim Goddard (Rogue Bantha) to have a play with New Elementary's selection of new 2016 LEGO® parts (hot on the heels of Jason Briscoe yesterday and Drew Hamilton the day before). Regular readers will know that Tim is the co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future but might not have caught up with the fact that he has launched a project on LEGO Ideas, the subject of which may surprise you!

Meanwhile, back in space, Tim used each of the 'classic Classic Space' coloured parts we sent (namely Bright Blue [TLG]/Blue [BL] and Medium Stone Grey [TLG]/Light Bluish Gray [BL]) to create this sweet microscale ship for us.

Nexo-Classic Space: Jason Briscoe

Welcome to part two of our investigation into some of the new parts the LEGO® Group have released in 2016. In part one, Drew Hamilton created a Utility Bot in a suitably Spacey room. Today it's the turn of Jason Briscoe (Brizzasbricks) to see what Spacey stuff he could make with the selection and he really went for it! Thanks also to the awesome Chris Salt, who did some awesome photoshoppery to make some of Jason's builds even Spacier and awesomier.

Citroën DS-inspired Rover

"This was my favourite build and the one that I spent the most time on. Whilst it does not look much it took a few iterations to get to the final version. It uses four pairs of the white 2x2 wings (Design IDs 24299 and 24307): one pair for the front spoiler, two pairs for the front and rear mudguards and one pair for a pillar screen support. I also managed to squeeze in a couple of the 1x1 plate with vertical tooth (15070) to create some retro rear light clusters. The styling is late Classic Space and takes a few design cues from sets like 6842 Small Space Shuttle Craft from 1985."