LEGO® review: 40462 Valentine's Brown Bear

TobyMac (from Rebrickable) reviews the latest adorable seasonal set from LEGO® Extended Line today, 40462 Valentine's Brown Bear. Buying this cutie? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

Valentine’s Day is on its way. As usual, LEGO has released a set to commemorate the occasion; this year it is 40462 Valentine's Brown Bear. I want to judge this set for any interest group, regardless of your love-life, so rather than looking at this as just a Valentine’s set, I’ll also be looking at its part selection.

LEGO® Brick Sketches review: 40456 Mickey Mouse & 40457 Minnie Mouse

Thomas Jenkins (on Instagram) reviews two upcoming LEGO® Brick Sketches today: 40456 Mickey Mouse and 40457 Minnie Mouse which will be released on 1 March 2021 priced £14.99/ US$16.99. Buying them? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

LEGO® designer Chris McVeigh is back with more delightful recreations of two iconic characters: Brick Sketches 40456 Mickey Mouse and 40457 Minnie Mouse. It’s interesting to see LEGO continue to expand their range of art-themed sets and offer something different from the typical building experience. I’m certainly intrigued to see how these sets stack up.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jarekwally's flowers, vase and butterfly

Our second Parts Festival participant is Jaroslaw Walter (jarekwally on Flickr, Facebook & Instagram), a Polish LEGO® builder living in Ireland who is a member of the LEGO User Groups LUGPOL, Zbudujmy.to, Brick.ie and Lug.ie. Here's the first of the varied creations he's made for us.

Building LEGO should make us happy. Personally I build to de-stress and forget about everyday problems. It helps a lot. I like enter to my room, sit down and combine different elements. At some point, ideas come to my mind. 

For this creation I used various parts from the selection provided by New Elementary.

LEGO® Hidden Side review: 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack

Hidden Side is a new LEGO® theme for 2019 featuring brick-built sets that combine with augmented reality (AR) to give a physical and digital aspect to each set. The Hidden Side range features eight building sets and interaction is via a smartphone app which reveals a hidden world of interactive mysteries and challenges to solve, using AR.

We are taking a look at a few Hidden Side sets and following 70425 Newbury Haunted High School, our second set up for review is 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack. This set has 579 pieces, one sticker sheet with 16 stickers, five minifigures and retails at £44.99 / US$49.99 / 49.99€.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo kills bugs

Duncan Lindbo returns from the garden today with a rather nasty discovery for our LEGO® Parts Festival.

There I was, out getting some fresh air, when a flash of purple caught my eye. Upon further investigation, it turned out to be some kind of foul alien worm. In an abundance of caution, I put on a pair of thick gloves before handling the specimen.

Nasty little critter, isn’t it?

LEGO® Monkie Kid review & MOCs: 80011 Red Son's Inferno Truck

Caz Mockett reviews LEGO® Monkie Kid set 80011 Red Son's Inferno Truck and designs some MOCs of her own using its parts. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

80011 Red Son's Inferno Truck sits at the £89.99 / $119.99 / 99.99€ price point in the first of the 2020 LEGO® Monkie Kid releases. It contains 1111 pieces which enables the builder to make the impressively menacing two-part Inferno Truck for Red Son and his henchmen, along with two wonderful side-builds: a tuk tuk for Monkie Kid who is working hard to deliver dumplings for Pigsy, and the Panda Convenience Store.

I confess I haven’t been watching the animated series, so I can’t comment on how close these builds are to anything which has been seen so far. I was however intrigued by the pieces in the set, so let’s take a closer look at those.

Review: 40864 Fortune Master, 80118 Fortune Firecracker and 80119 Galloping Horses Canvas from LEGO® Spring Festival

Since 2019, LEGO has released sets focused on the Spring Festival, the 15-day celebrations marking the start of the Chinese new year. With the upcoming celebrations for the Year of the Horse running from 17 February to 3 March 2026, three sets come galloping in to commemorate the occasion: 40864 Fortune Master spreads good luck, 80118 Fortune Firecracker starts the year with a bang, and 80119 Galloping Horses Canvas brings success upon arrival of the new year. 

2019 Parts Fest #1: Introducing the Elements

It is Parts Fest time once more here at New Elementary. We have posted a lovely selection of new-for-2019 LEGO® elements to some of the most innovative, inspiring builders we know and love. This time our featured builders are from Ireland, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, USA, Poland, France and Sweden; each with their own style and techniques to bring to our parts festival.

In this first post,  we wanted to introduce the elements included in this parts festival. All the elements are new to 2019 and almost all are completely new element moulds. Without further ado, let's meet the elements.

LEGO® Monkie Kid review: 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain

Aron Gerencsér (@_pohaturon) completes his 2021 LEGO® Monkie Kid set analysis today with 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain. Don't forget, it is Double VIP Points at LEGO.com until 20 April 2021 so if you're buying this set, or anything, please consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The largest set in the first 2021 wave of LEGO® Monkie Kid sets is a stark departure from the usual aesthetic of the theme. 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain is a 1949-piece set retailing for £159.99 / US$169.99 / 169.99€ (more currencies listed at the end of this post) which instead of a fancy futuristic vehicle or mech depicts a beautiful mountain vista with a mythic vibe, straying much closer to the theme’s Journey to the West roots. Let’s see if this dramatic shift works to the set’s advantage. 

Bug Fest using LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection: Introducing the elements

It's December and New Elementary is getting in the festive mood with a Parts Fest! 

We invited five incredibly talented builders, @kekenoji, @moko_bricks, @legomichiiiiii, @r194.lego, and @nobu_tary to inspire us with their LEGO creations using elements from LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection. With an inventory that ticked all the boxes for colourful and interesting elements, it seemed like the perfect set for a Parts Fest, or maybe this time it's a Bug Fest...

Review: 72037 Mario Kart™– Mario & Standard Kart from LEGO® Super Mario™

Today we head to the rainbow road with a look at the strange new moulds, rare recolours and stand-out build techniques in 72037 Mario Kart™– Mario & Standard Kart.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Samuel Pister's clown and soldier

Time for the second half of Samuel Pister's creations for our Parts Festival today, where LEGO® builders from around the world try out new pieces. If you missed his first bunch, they're here.

For this clown creation, I integrated many of the parts from the selection:

• Vibrant Coral Gear Wheel 6x6, Z14 (6258385| 35446)
• Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple Gear Wheel 2X2, Z6 (6238330 | 35442)
• Bright Purple/ Dark Pink Plate 3X3, Heart, No. 1 (6254513|39613)
• Bright Yellow/ Yellow Design Plate, 4X4X2/3, No. 1 (6248804|39611)
• Bright Orange/ Orange Tile 1X1, Heart, No. 1 (6258993|39739)

Review: 31213 Mona Lisa from LEGO® Art

It's time to crack the LEGO® Da Vinci Code! The new Mona Lisa LEGO® Art set hides not only a mysterious smile but also many recoloured elements to re-imagine the famous painting in bricks. And by the way, the frame puts all previous gold rushes in the shade. Let's have a closer look at the colour layers while the paint is still fresh.

Review: 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from LEGO® Icons

A new LEGO® Icons set has just landed! 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is a 2417-piece set that recreates the space shuttle Enterprise and the modified Boeing 747™ that was used to transport it between missions. While LEGO has produced a great number of space shuttle sets in the past, this is the first time to see this specific shuttle in brick form. This is also the first official LEGO depiction of the Boeing 747. 

Fasten your seat belts and check that overhead compartment because this jumbo jet is quite a ride!

LEGO® Pick a Brick: new elements added in February 2025

In February 2025, LEGO® Pick a Brick (PaB) added new elements to the service. These are pieces from sets released in October 2024.

Given people are still waiting for October 2024 orders, we understand why many of you will not be ordering anything, but we will continue publishing these lists in the meantime. We have no further update from the Pick a Brick team, so we assume the situation the explained last month is still the case.

What are the new LEGO® parts in July 2025 sets?

I've created a list showing all 86 new LEGO® elements within the July 2025 sets, with links to which sets they come in, in case you wish to purchase.

For those of you who prefer it, here is our list of the July 2025 sets showing their new elements.

LEGO® MOVIE 2 review: 70830 Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship!

Our series of set reviews of THE LEGO MOVIE 2: The Second Part continues today with 70830 Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship! Ben Davies (ProfessorBrickkeeper) returns to examine another bumper collection of exciting parts.

One of the first sets revealed for the toy line and featuring prominently in the initial trailer for the film, 70830 Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship! has been one of the most anticipated sets for The LEGO Movie 2, thanks in no small part to its unusual design, wide assortment of teal bricks, and inclusion of several new-for-2019 elements.

Before examining all the new parts, let’s take a look at the construction of the ship and the finished model.

Parts review & MOC: 43257 Angel from LEGO® Disney™

LEGO® Disney™ 43257 Angel caught my attention when it was released in June 2025: an overall rounded, substantially sized character built in a still relatively uncommon colour; an ode of bright pink. As a design, it looks like a pink recolour of 43249 Stitch (review by Thomas Jenkins) with some other changes here and there; new part aficionados will surely notice the gracefully curving tentacles. 

The re-use of previously designed shapes is understandable, as the female character Angel is basically a pink version of Stitch. I'm not a fan of such (relatively common) character design practice, where an established male protagonist gets a love interest by changing colour into pink and adding eyelashes plus an optional heart accessory – all of which were included here. They deserve better.

I'll go through Angel's interesting new parts and present a new MOC that used plenty of them (plus some more pieces – it is not an alternative model), discovering the new possibilities of bright pink.

Review: 43266 Cinderella's Dress from LEGO® Disney

LEGO® Disney 43266 Cinderella's Dress is one of two new 'dress' sets revealed earlier this year, the other being 43262 Maleficent's and Cruella De Vil's Dresses. 

We have this set for early review as there's a useful new mould in this set, along with some new prints and recolours. Even if Disney Princesses are not your thing, read on, as new elements always bring excitement.

Review: 11377 The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith™ from LEGO® Icons

READ MORE: Ben's Grond GwP review

While The LEGO Group has intermittently produced sets based on The Lord of the Rings since 2012, it is only since the theme was revived under the LEGO® Icons banner in 2023 that we have received sets distinctly aimed at adults.

The largest of these is the upcoming June 2026 set 11377 The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith, depicting the tiered capital city of the kingdom of Gondor. With an enormous piece count (and price to match), will this set live up to the source material? Let's take a look!