ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ: #42109 App-controlled Top Gear Rally Car
Let’s take the least expensive set featuring the new Technic Control+ system for a test drive. We’ll find out if it gains traction, or skids out of your consideration…
Latest Stories
New design for adult-focused LEGO products
Has The LEGO Group finally admitted that Adult Fans are important with updated packaging, 18+ recommended age, and more…?
#10273 LEGO Haunted House was announced today, alongside an official statement about the new packaging design (which we have already seen on several previous 2020 LEGO sets aimed at adults). According to LEGO, these sets “feature the new stylish packaging designed to reflect the sophisticated nature of the creative process.”
New packaging marked 18+ designed to appeal to adults.
These sets have revised packaging with a smaller LEGO logo in the lower-left corner, and additional product details displayed on a ribbon across the bottom of the box. Eagle-eyed readers will also notice that they are all marked with an age recommendation of 18+. I don’t think this reflects an increase in technical difficulty, so much as a consious branding decision to use the age associated with adulthood in most of the world.
A narrow ribbon includes product details along the bottom of each box.
The press release included this quote from Senior Marketing Manager Anders Hellegaard Iversen: “So many of our older builders love the Creator Expert products, as they allow them to show off their passion for the bricks. Whether it’s their favorite film moments, sport icons, travel destinations, buildings, fairgrounds or vehicles, LEGO sets help to bring these to life in brick form. That’s also why we have decided to stop using the Creator Expert branding and, instead, use the new adult-focused packaging design to make it clearer which hobbies or brand products they can relate to. We hope this will make it easier for fans to track down models they would be proud to display once completed. Of course, our product range will continue to include the same advanced-build, collectible products that guarantee hours of building enjoyment for fans.”
As Anders indicated, this change coincides with the end of the “Creator Expert” branding, which was first seen on packaging for 2013’s #10232 Palace Cinema. (Previous sets in the Creator Expert series have had various recommended ages, from 12+ for #10267 Gingerbread House, 14+ for #10248 Ferrari F40, and 16+ for #10270 Bookshop.) We will have to wait and see how the next set in the Winter Village series is branded, but I suspect it will not be included in this adult-oriented branding program.
One other line in the press release caught my attention: “All new products in the LEGO Group’s ranges that appeal to adults will now feature the sleek, minimalistic new design across related packaging, building instructions, exclusive content and in-store and online store design.”
It’s about time that The LEGO Group made visible changes to acknowledge the importance of their Adult Fans. I can’t wait to see more excusive content and in-store/online design changes soon!
ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ: #75272 Sith TIE Fighter
This medium-sized Star Wars set contains a shipload of the new 4×2 pointed wedge plates. Let’s see if it is a good set (or a good parts pack).
ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ: #21054 The White House
This summer, an updated version of The White House will be released which includes the East and West Wing. Let’s take a sneak peek at the new set (and the new packaging designed to appeal to Adult Fans of LEGO).
ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ: New LEGO Products by Chronicle Books
The LEGO Group has partnered with Chronicle Books to produce a range of products aimed squarely at Adult Fans of LEGO. Let’s see if they stand up to our high expectations for LEGO-branded products…
ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ: Taliesin West (The Atom Brick)
The second of three new architecture sets by The Atom Brick (using ¾ sized LEGO-like bricks), this model explores the more complex geometries from a latter period of Frank Lloyd Wright’s career.
Spring Cleaning—What’s New?
While Staying at Home to slow the spread of COVID-19, I’ve make a ton of small improvements to the Brick Architect website.
First of all, I want to recognize that COVID-19 presents a very real threat to our safety and way of life. My thoughts are with everyone on the front lines fighting this virus, everyone working critical jobs to support our communities, everyone whose livelihoods are at risk, everyone who is nervous for the safety of family and friends, and everyone who is struggling in these ambiguous times.
I’ve been able to work from home for the last six weeks… relying on walks, bike rides, and gardening to keep me busy. I’ve been less motivated to create new content, but I have made a ton of smaller improvements throughout the website.
Updates to existing content:
- Unofficial LEGO Architecture Set Guide
Added ‘Ikea Dresden’ by LEGO Certified Professional Rene Hoffmeister / BrickFabrik. (Thanks again to Christiaan Beem!) - Meet the LEGO Masters… on Youtube, Instagram, and more
Added additional content related to recent episodes and the show as a whole (plus a few more contestants’ social media accounts). - LEGO Brick Labels
Added an FAQ, including instructions to fix printing issues which were discovered with Mac OS. - Brick List & Buying Guide for ‘The LEGO Architect’ book
Since #21050 LEGO Architecture Studio set was retired, I’ve updated this guide to help people purchase all of the parts that they would have gotten with that set.
Visual Improvements:
- A subtle studded light gray background is shown on large displays (over 1200px wide).
- Articles with a ‘Featured image’ appear borderless on the Homepage, Category Archives, & Author Archives. (Before this change, the left edge of the image was aligned with the text.)
- A description for each category is now shown on the respective Category Archives. (A “show all” button was also added to upper-left corner of the Archive Pages.)
- Updated pages for The LEGO Architect, additional resources, and the 9 foreign-language editions to fix bugs and increase consistency with the rest of the website.
- The Table of Contents is less distracting and works better on smaller screens. (It is only shown on long articles/pages.)
- For comments without an avatar, I replaced the generic image with the silhouette of a LEGO head.
If something looks funny, or you have an idea to make Brick Architect even better, please email me at tom@tomalphin.com!
Highlights from AMA with Tom Alphin
I’ve highlighted the top 10 questions you asked about my book, LEGO Storage, and so much more…
ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴠɪᴇᴡ: Geeking out with the LEGO Masters
Brick Architect asks the LEGO Masters contestants about some of our favorite topics: LEGO storage, favorite parts and colors, how scale impacts their creations, and their dream project.
Updates to LEGO Brick Labels page
LEGO Brick Labels is one of the most popular resources provided here at Brick Architect, but I hadn’t updated the page where you can download and learn more in 4 years!
The updated page includes an up-to-date list of compatible label printers. It’s also shorter, easier to read, and encourages readers to visit my LEGO Storage Guide to learn more about storage solutions.
Cool Yellow (Bright Light Yellow) is having a moment
The new Fiat 500 gives us 40 new parts in a previously rare color.
While I keep meaning to update my 2018 article Hard-to-Find LEGO Colors (and what to do about it), it clearly indicated that 226Cool YellowBright Light Yellow was a “rare” color since it was only available in 8 of the 24 parts used in my analysis. (While I didn’t update the article in 2019, you would have found that it was up to 14/24 parts, nearly entering the “uncommon” category.)
Suffice to say, the newly released Creator Expert #10271 Fiat 500 set has put the previously rare color on the map, since it is used as the color for the car’s brick-built exterior.
#10271 Fiat 500 includes a ton of new and useful parts in the rare Cool Yellow color.
The set incudes 40 parts which are new for 2020 in the 226Cool YellowBright Light Yellow color. Among those new parts are 13x 1×3 Plate (Part 3623), 5x 2×4 Plate (Part 3020), 3x 1×4 Tile (Part 2431), & 9x 1×8 Tile (Part 4162). This brings it up to 18/24 parts, putting it well within the “uncommon” category, and on track to become a common color soon.
The Fiat 500 costs $89.99 (€79.99 / £74.99) for 960 pieces (or a cool $0.09 per part.)
Should you decide to add this ‘cool’ car to your collection, please consider purchasing the #10271 Fiat 500 using our LEGO.com affiliate link—Thanks!
Meet the LEGO Masters… on Youtube, Instagram, and more
Want to find out what it was really like participating in the new LEGO Masters TV Show? Many of the participants are active on social media, so it’s easy to learn more!
