Pump it real good

Time for another of the amazing new LEGO® Technic sets, so we turn to Ryan Welles (merman) to give us the run-down on what makes 42053 Volvo EW160E so different. The set is released on 1 August.

2016 already seems to be a record year when it comes to licensed Technic sets. Whereas one licensed set a year seemed to be the rule, in 2016 alone we have a staggering three sets involving some form of partnership. The smallest of these is 42053 Volvo EW160E, a wheeled excavator that the Swedish vehicle manufacturer introduced rather recently. The set contains 1166 parts, relies heavily on the new V2 pneumatic system that came with last year’s 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245 and retails for £69.99/US$119.99. Now, do we actually pay loads for the license or is this a pretty good deal... and is it an interesting build? Let’s find out.

Back to school

We have an unusual post today; we are covering some LEGO-branded merchandise. LEGO stationery has been released before, but has it ever been this pretty? More importantly, the range incorporates actual LEGO elements.
We also have a new author: Dr. Richard Jones who hails from Melbourne, Australia. He runs his own LEGO blog, The Rambling Brick, where he rambles on about bricks.

I was excited to be asked to look at these new stationery items. The new gear has a minimalist look: unmistakably LEGO, but not overly decorated. White is the predominant colour – is this now a sign of corporate luxury? First the iPod in 2002, and now LEGO stationery 14 years later: Coincidence? Probably. The colours are kept to a minimum on the whole, but where they are used, they add a touch of class to the line.

Cave of colours

It's been a long time since we looked at a LEGO® Elves set, which are always full of new parts and vibrant recolours. We begin to redress that today with a review by Andrew Barnick of a 2016 set, 41175 Fire Dragon’s Lava Cave.

LEGO Elves may have even surpassed Bionicle as my favorite new theme of 2015, with a fantastic range of colorful and magical-looking sets and a heartwarming story and characters. So I’m happy to return this year with reviews of some new Elves sets. This year’s Elves sets focus on Emily Jones and the Elves’ quest to rescue the Dragon Queen from the evil Elf Witch Ragana, and feature both adorable baby dragons and fantastic brick-built adult dragons to accompany the Elves on their journey. And like last year’s sets, these sets include a plethora of new and rare elements in an array of bright colors that are far less common in other themes. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what 41175 Fire Dragon’s Lava Cave has to offer!

An odd piece

And now a post about a part I don't yet have! Mostly because I am very excited about it and want to share... but also because there's not much point in getting hold of one to show you what can be done with it, as it is inherently obvious.

Did you think it was a 1x4 panel, like I did on first glance? Hooray, it is a 1x3 panel! The Design ID is 23950 and it comes only in Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/Dark Bluish Gray [BL] at present, for which the Element ID is 6149768.

Recolours for 2016

There's probably no need to introduce today's writer, Chris McVeigh (powerpig) who has been a prolific and influential builder, photographer, designer and entrepreneur on the LEGO® scene for many years now. Chris was a strong supporter of New Elementary from the very beginning (which, by the way, was three years ago yesterday!) and I'm thrilled he has prepared this great post for us detailing the most interesting recoloured LEGO parts recently released. Thanks must also go to Huw Millington once again, for making this information readily available to the community via the Brickset parts database. Huw and I have been a bit worried this year as the LEGO® Group have not updated their online database with many new parts at all this year. However our fears that they would no longer add new parts were unfounded, and a massive update occurred earlier this month. 

The LEGO Group recently published instructions and inventories for its summer sets, and in the process, added thousands of missing pieces. After Brickset added the information to its own database, I sat down with a coffee and gorged myself on the many, many new elements. Now that I’ve had a chance to digest all the information, I’m going to highlight some of the notable part recolours. (New Elementary will examine a number of the entirely new parts in a future article.) Please note that some of these elements debuted with winter and spring sets, but I'm looking at the recent database additions in  aggregate.

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.