LEGO® Brickheadz review: 40420 Gru & 40421 Belle Bottom

TobyMac (@efraimaspie) examines 2 new LEGO® BrickHeadz sets which are available from today: 40420 Gru & 40421 Belle Bottom. Buying these Minions sets? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

Minions… annoying little yellow figures that speak some weird language. I can’t say I’m a fan of them popping up everywhere. But, they do give us some neat LEGO® sets with new, interesting elements. Last year, 5 sets were announced, with only 2 released because the movie Minions: Rise of Gru is delayed. Tim Johnson has already taken a look at 75551 Brick Built Minions and Their Lair & 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase, looking at both the new moulds and the figures and recolours. The other 3 sets are supposed to be released in June this year. But before we can get our hands on those, LEGO is going to release 2 other Minions-related sets, in the form of 40420 Gru & 40421 Belle Bottom BrickHeadz, and today we’ll be taking a look at them.

New moulds & MOCs: LEGO® 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair & 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase

Today some important new-for-2020 moulds are examined as Tim Johnson reviews LEGO® Minions 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair (£44.99/ $49.99/ 48.73€) as well as 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase (£17.99 / $19.99 / 19.49€) with some additional creative investigation courtesy of Kevin Levell. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

When the movie Minions: The Rise of Gru was postponed until 2021, several of the planned LEGO® tie-in sets met with the same fate. Two sets did however get released in April, which is good as there is much of interest to be found... in one of them. 

Unless you’re a bike fan or interested in the Minion minifigures, 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase (shown on the right) doesn’t offer much to adult builders but 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair has thrilling new moulds – and is a hilarious build. Even if you hate these little yellow pipsqueaks, don’t you want to build silly giant mech versions of them?

Let’s discover what LEGO Minions are made of, starting with the new-for-2020 LEGO parts that comprise the giant Minions found in 75551.

Minifigs & recolours: LEGO® 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair & 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase

Last time, Tim Johnson began working through all the new LEGO® parts from Minions: The Rise of Gru 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair (£44.99/ $49.99/ 48.73€) as well as 75549 Unstoppable Bike Chase (£17.99 / $19.99 / 19.49€) and today he completes this analysis by examining the Minion minifigures and the recolours. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

LEGO® Minifigures in 75549 and 75551

75549 comes with Stuart, Gru and Bob. Gru has 2 expressions and printing on the rear of his torso. The Minions come in their traditional overalls.

LEGO® 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair: Lee's alternate builds

Lee (cityson on Flickr) creates MOCs for you today using only the parts from LEGO® 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair, a 2020 set containing many interesting new moulds. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop (for other countries 'Change Region') or try UK Amazon | USA Amazon. 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.

Last October, Tim Johnson took quite a thorough look at all the interesting parts in the 2 released LEGO® Minions: The Rise of Gru sets. While fans are still waiting for the postponed movie and its tie-in sets to be released, I have taken some time to see what alternate models can be rebuilt from the lovely set 75551 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair. 

Sadly, I found myself running into a classic creative block. On the bright side, the set has given me 3 Minions minifigures, so I decided to outsource my task to Kevin, Stuart and Bob and see what they can come up with instead.

LEGO® NINJAGO® review: 71774 Lloyd's Ultra Golden Dragon

Dragons are a common sight in the realm of LEGO® NINJAGO®. A quick search on Rebrickable shows 58 sets featuring a dragon. So the question will be: does 71774 Lloyd’s Ultra Golden Dragon have anything new to offer? With 998 parts, it is one of the largest dragon sets, and with 286 of these parts being in Pearl Gold, its shininess certainly stands out.

LEGO® Super Mario 2020: Recolours Galore

With the imminent release of the new theme LEGO® Super Mario on 1 August, Ben Davies thought this was the perfect time to tell you about all the LEGO parts that come in new colors across the range. Namely; 40414 Monty Mole & Super Mushroom, 71360 Adventures with Mario, 71362 Guarded Fortress, 71363 Desert Pokey, 71364 Whomp’s Lava Trouble, 71365 Piranha Plant Power Slide, 71366 Boomer Bill Barrage, 71367 Mario’s House & Yoshi, 71368 Toad’s Treasure Hunt, 71369 Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle, 71370 Fire Mario Power-Up Pack, 71371 Propeller Mario Power-Up Pack, 71372 Cat Mario Power-Up Pack, 71373 Builder Mario Power-Up Pack, 71376 Thwomp Drop and 71377 King Boo and the Haunted Yard. These products were provided to us for free by LEGO; the author's opinions were not biased by this. 

When we spoke to LEGO® Super Mario lead designer Jonathan Bennink in May, he teased that nearly 200 new elements had been introduced for the brand new theme. In the second part of our comprehensive examination of the LEGO Super Mario range, we’ll be taking a closer look at the new and rare colours of parts introduced in the upcoming sets.

Which LEGO® sets have the most new parts? April & May 2021

Following our list of new parts from May 2021, today we list the most recent LEGO® sets showing the quantity of new parts each of in them. This covers sets added to Rebrickable in April and May.

Developed in partnership with TobyMac (from Rebrickable), we show both quantity as well as overall percentage of new elements. So if you like to buy sets knowing they'll contain stuff you don't yet own, you may like to use our table as one of your purchasing factors.

What are the new LEGO® parts in May 2024 sets?

I've created a list showing all 208 new LEGO® elements added in May 2024, with links to which sets they come in so you can check for the ones you might be interested in. And for those of you who instead prefer our list of sets showing which contain the most new elements, click here.

LEGO® Ideas parts & minifigures review: 21324 123 Sesame Street

Following his look yesterday at the completed LEGO® Ideas set 21324 123 Sesame Street, today Tim Johnson breaks it down to reveal the new minifigures, printed and recoloured pieces as well as many rare ones. This 1367-piece set is now available for £109.99/ €119.99/ US$119.99/ CA$149.99. If you're buying it, consider using our affiliate links to LEGO Shop at Home in the USA or UK. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

As we've all now seen, LEGO® Ideas 21324 123 Sesame Street is a vibrant set full of new and rare recolours of parts, and brand new minifigs too. Hang on a second – new moulds in Ideas? The press release confirms “exclusive buildable minifigures which have been moulded specifically for the set”. Seems that’s no longer against the Ideas rules; Brickset user Brick_Clicker noted the guidelines on the LEGO Ideas site now state: “Should we deem it necessary, we may introduce new LEGO element molds, new cloth or other non-brick elements in the final official LEGO Ideas set. This would [be] done on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the LEGO Ideas Product Development team.” Well, that is good news, although I really hope we get a CMF line too because I want Grover and The Count!

LEGO® NINJAGO® June 2023: Elements Rising

Ninja Goooo! We had to wait for what felt like a long time, but finally we know what happens to the LEGO® NINJAGO® theme after the Crystalized storyline wrapped up. 

LEGO® Black Friday Toy Deals

LEGO® Black Friday Toy Deals are underway, with even new sets like Christmas Table Decoration and the LEGO® Botanical Collection Wreath discounted. However the biggest discounts can be found in the Pick a Brick aisle!

Black Friday / Cyber Monday LEGO® GwP and deals

UPDATE: See the best sets on sale at a glance in the UK, Europe and USA

Black Friday began at midnight 28 November 2025 and the good news is that if you missed out on the two larger Gifts with Purchase (GwP) last week, they're back again! The smaller GwP has been replaced with a rather cool deck of LEGO playing cards, and there's a new LEGO Insiders reward in the shape of 5009626 Fish Tank. The price reductions that began last week continue, and there have also been lower prices on individual bricks at Pick a Brick for a couple of weeks now. 

Note also the LEGO Insiders offer of 1000 points in exchange for just 200! These appear to be limited in number as they are selling out in some countries already. The instructions on the LEGO site apparently give an incorrect URL for redemption – see the comments on this post from our helpful, faithful readers!

LEGO® Star Wars review & MOCs: 75300 Imperial Tie Fighter & 75301 Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Fighter

Kev Levell (@kevlevell) gives you double LEGO® Star Wars love today as he examines the parts in 75300 Imperial Tie Fighter & 75301 Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Fighter before creating MOCs using both their parts. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

These two new iterations of iconic LEGO Star Wars ships have been available for a little while now. There are a very small number of notable new parts and even dealing with both sets at once, it is a scant offering. However, both sets feature elements that I wanted to investigate. None of the parts are presented in very great numbers either, but their connections and geometry may reveal them to be slightly overlooked gems. I’m hoping they aren’t disappointing, unnecessary introductions into the inventory.

6-in-3-in-1

Following James Pegrum's look at 70806 Castle Cavalry, today I'm reviewing all three of the other "2-in-1" sets from The LEGO® Movie series; 70805 Trash Chomper, 70811 The Flying Flusher and 70804 Ice Cream Machine.

What new LEGO® pieces were released in August 2020?

We're commencing a new resource here on New Elementary for you all today thanks to TobyMac who is an inventory admin at Rebrickable. Many of you have mentioned you missed Jonas Kramm's monthly summaries of new parts at LEGO® Bricks and Pieces (and indeed a few lovely people even offered to start doing them). But Tobias has automated the process, and made it more thorough by preparing a list of all new pieces added to Rebrickable. An advantage to this list is that any elements which already existed but have been assigned a new Element ID by LEGO have been excluded from our list. We will bring you these lists every month, probably in the latter half. If you're buying from LEGO Bricks and Pieces, consider using our affiliate link. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases.

Each month I'll give a short summary of new moulds that might be interesting for MOCs, and after that give a complete list of every new Element ID that has been added to the Rebrickable database so far that month. August has given us a lot of new elements; most coming from the LEGO® Super Mario theme including a lot of completely new moulds. It also gives us, for the first time on a large scale, parts with pre-applied stickers. You can read more about that in Ben Davies' article.

October LEGO® Article Digest

We published so much in October – 15 articles across 17 posts, plus another 10 for our Patreon supporters – we figured a bit of a catch-up might be good in case you missed any!

New LEGO® sets now available

• LEGO Ideas set 21324 123 Sesame Street was reviewed over two posts by Tim Johnson, and it is available to purchase as of today! If you're buying this set, consider using our affiliate links to LEGO Shop at Home in the USA or UK. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases. 
• Now that The Mandalorian Season 2 has aired, LEGO Star Wars 75318 The Child is available too! Check out our review by new contributor Zachary Hill, or head straight to purchase via our affiliate links: USA LEGO Shop at Home, USA Amazon, UK LEGO Shop at Home, UK Amazon. 

Review: 76973 Raptor & Titanosaurus Tracking Mission from LEGO® Jurassic World™

Welcome to the final review in our LEGO® Jurassic World™ Rebirth June 2025 coverage. As has been the case with preceding sets in the theme, each set in this latest wave has been defined by the dinosaurs featured in it. This set has got a big one; the biggest dinosaur made by The LEGO Group to date, I believe.

With such a biggie included, I wonder whether the titanosaurus leaves room for anything else? Let's start by taking a look at the parts.

Old Elementary: Eero Okkonen's LEGO® vehicle fronts

Finnish LEGO® builder Eero Okkonen (on Instagram) continues his series of articles looking at unusual parts he likes to use in his MOCs, and today's article even includes a brand-new model. Last time he examined Windscreen 9 x 3 x 1 2/3 Bubble Canopy and Wedge 4 x 3 Cut Back with Cutout; today it is the turn of three more curved pieces intended for vehicles.

Cars are one of the evergreen subjects of LEGO® sets, and the parts specially designed for minifig-scale vehicles can be easily overlooked due to their everyday status, especially by builders who usually work at entirely different scales. I thought it might be interesting to briefly present several LEGO vehicle pieces I like to use in builds, along with examples of older MOCs of mine as well as this unpublished work: Jean of Emergent Dance.

LEGO® Super Mario review: 71383 Wiggler's Poison Swamp

Nicolas Geeraert, a UK-based builder and former contestant in LEGO® Masters, is our special guest reviewer today. He's taking a look at the parts in the 2021 LEGO Super Mario set 71383 Wiggler’s Poison Swamp. Buying this £34.99 / US$39.99 / 39.99€ 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.

Alongside the Character Pack Series 2, a series of LEGO® Super Mario sets was released at the start of 2021 including 71383 Wiggler’s Poison Swamp. This is my first experience with the Super Mario sets, and so the lack of a Mario figure prevented me from reviewing the gameplay, but that should not spoil the fun. The set brings some great new parts and recolours, with a new SNOT element as the highlight.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75318 The Child

Today we welcome another new contributor, Zachary Hill from the USA whose work some of you have already read on our Patreon. Today he reviews LEGO® Star Wars 75318 The Child which is priced at US$79.99/ CA$99.99/ £69.99/ €77.97. Consider using our affiliate links: USA LEGO Shop at Home, USA Amazon, UK LEGO Shop at Home, UK Amazon. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The Mandalorian’s irresistibly adorable alien baby is prime material for the relentless Star Wars merchandising machine, with The Child appearing on everything including headphones, lip balm and even coolers. Here at New Elementary, we prefer the galaxy’s cutest 50-year-old in LEGO® form. More than just googly-eyed goodness awaits fans in 75318 The Child, with a handful of newly recoloured pieces and a pile of rare bits included to build “Baby Yoda”.