As always, here’s the latest LEGO news here at Brick Architect and from around the web…

This month at Brick Architect

• Review: #31203 World Map
  A map of the whole world is the new largest LEGO set—at least by part count! (And it’s a great price, too!)
• Review: #10292 The Friends Apartments
  At double the size of the wildly successful LEGO Ideas set based on the classic 90’s sitcom, The Friends Apartments captures many more details for die-hard fans.

Upcoming Events

• May – November, 2021 – LEGO® House Live Tours from History Collection
  Five hour-long virtual tours will be offered in 2021, exploring the hstory of The LEGO Group starting in 1932. The first tour is May 6th, and two different time slots are available for each tour.
  The online event is 50 DKK (About $8).

Other exciting new sets for AFOLs

A bunch of really interesting new sets were were just released! These are a few of my favorites:

• #21056 Taj Mahal – The latest addition to the LEGO Architecture Landmark series is a smaller-scale version of the Tah Majal.
  2022 pieces for $120 (0.059/piece) at LEGO.com
• #76178 Daily Bugle (Marvel) – This bland looking skyscraper doesn’t appeal to me as an architecture lover, but it sure does include a lot of awesome minifigs!
  4770 pieces for $300 (0.063/piece) at LEGO.com
• #10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery – This beautifully sculpted brick-built Space Shuttle exceeds the already high standard of previous LEGO Space Shuttle sets!
  2354 pieces for $200 (0.085/piece) at LEGO.com

Best articles from around the web

We can’t include every article in the past month, so here are a few of my favorites…

• LEGO SNOT: Advanced Techniques and Implementations
  Grab a tissue and read yet another excellent in-depth look at SNOT building techniques.
  —BrickNerd
• Jan van Schaik’s ‘Lost Tablets’
  A fine art display by a talented Australian architect imagines how arcaeological tablet of antiquity might have looked if they were built using LEGO Bricks of a single color.
  —Sarah Scout Presents
• Review: 1×5 plate
  Bricket founder Huw gives an honest assesment of the long-term potential of the newly released 1×5 Plate (part 78329).
  Time will tell how popular it will be, but I’ll certainly add it to my LEGO Brick Labels collection soon!
  —Brickset
• LEGO City Interview: The new road plates
  It’s relatively well known that The LEGO Group is eager to use fewer classic baseplates in their sets, at least in part due to the fact that they do not create vaccuum-formed parts in house. It’s also interesting to see how the smaller road plates help them reduce packaging size (and potentially decrease environmental impact).
  —New Elementary
• Interview: The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks
  Here’s a short interview with Daniel Konstanski aboout his nerdy new book about LEGO. (It’s unfortunately too late to pledge your support!)
  —Brickset
• Origin of An Elephant: Bow-ties Are Cool!
  It’s hard not to love this deep dive into an obscure part fromt he now retired PRIMO line for very young children!
  —BrickNerd
• 10K Club Interview: Colosseum by Kevin J. Walter
  Kevin got 10,000 votes for his large scale architectural model of the Colosseum. Unfortunately for him, LEGO released a version after he submitted his idea. Nonetheless, it’s worth reading the short interview.
  —LEGO IDEAS

Best podcast episodes:

This month, another new LEGO podcast was launched. Happy Listening!

• Never too old to play (20:56)
  The LEGO Group’s official podcast is getting to a rocky start, with more than two months between the first and second episode. I wish them luck in finding a format that works for the long term.
  —Our LEGO Stories