The build: the Scout Trooper helmet starts off similarly to many other helmets – a core built around a Technic frame piece and SNOT bricks. However it doesn’t take long before it deviates from this well-trodden path, dictated largely by the Scout Trooper’s angled jowls. These and the distinctive visor make the build a more interesting experience than the stack-plates-on-plates technique found in the TIE pilot or Boba Fett, despite having fewer pieces. That said, the set is not free of this technique, and when making the crown of the head I did find myself checking my work a lot to ensure I hadn’t missed anything. The Scout also includes a dozen or so stickers, which scatter some more details throughout the helmet. These details aren’t absolutely essential – in fact around a third of them are on the back, so may not be seen – but their inclusion does not detract from the build process. 8/10

Display value: the Scout Trooper is one of my favourite troop designs in all of Star Wars, so it should come as no surprise that I think it looks excellent. Even setting aside that personal bias, however, this is a very faithful representation of the design first introduced in Return of the Jedi. The angularity of the design certainly lends itself well to the medium of LEGO bricks, and as a result the visor and mouthpiece – two of the most distinctive elements of the Scout Trooper – are pretty perfect. The rounder elements are equally well done, and the area around the back of the helmet matches that found on the Stormtrooper from the same line. The only area that could have really used improvement is the seam where the helmet can flip up, which is shown here with light bluish gray tiles but doesn’t quite pull off the look. This is far from being a deal-breaker though. 9/10

Overall verdict: a fine addition to the slowly expanding line of Star Wars helmets. The low piece count makes it one of the cheaper sets in the helmet range, but this not the fault of any design compromises. In fact I would go as far as to say this might be the best headpiece yet from a galaxy far, far away, or at the very least the best value. An engaging build process married with a unique design that is well-suited to angular plastic bricks results in a great-looking display piece, with plenty of visual interest for a mostly-monochrome statuette. If you have ever considered starting a collection of these helmets, you could do much worse than starting here. 9/10

The build: despite its small stature, the McLaren Elva makes for a pleasing build. Being a Speed Champions set, stickers feel almost compulsory, and five such stickers make up details such as headlights and the McLaren logo – all but impossible to recreate using pieces at this scale. Nevertheless, the rest of the build is a great exercise in using few pieces to recreate the important facets of the real thing. The whole thing is built at five-wide, and uses SNOT and a variety of slopes, tiles, and wedges to great effect. As a result this is also a pretty decent parts pack for its size. 8/10

Play value: as Henry Ford (apparently) once said: “motor racing began five minutes after the second car was built”. This is the second polybag set to come from the Speed Champions garage, and as a result, if you own #30342 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO, you can finally stage a pint-sized LEGO supercar race. The play features in this are, in honesty, not dissimilar to a full-scale Speed Champions set (minus the minifigure and accompanying wrench, of course). However the Matchbox-like size somehow makes this iteration feel more satisfying to drive around on one’s desk or floor, possibly as it requires less space and fewer hands to execute the most outrageous of racing maneouvres. Who needs minifigures, anyway? 7/10

Model value: the move to a five-wide format gives the Elva much more elegant proportions than its polybag predecessor. As mentioned above it also allows for more pieces to be used to recreate the various facets and edges of the real thing, and the result is a really rather elegant little car. The stickers for headlights give it the front a touch of uncanny valley, but at this scale it’s really the best option; the tail lights, on the other hand, are surprisingly excellent – there are lights on full-scale sets that aren’t as effective as these. 7/10

Overall verdict: the McLaren Elva is an unusual vehicle, and any set would be hard-pressed to recreate it adequately; that it has been done so effectively at such a small scale is truly impressive. As a fan of the now-defunct Tiny Turbos line, I hope that LEGO continues to produce polybag-sized Speed Champions using this five-wide format and with wider releases; not only does it provide a low price barrier to budding petrolheads, its size has not resulted in any loss of play or display value. If the whispers of a full-scale McLaren Elva coming this summer are true, its little brother has certainly set an impressive standard. 8/10

The Ancient Warrior is one of the most striking of the 21^st series of CMFs. The concept is very similar to the Aztec Warrior included in series 7, and indeed features many of the same hallmarks – a shield, a weapon, limited clothing and an impressive headdress. However several worthwhile updates have been applied since the last iteration 9 years ago, most notably in the form of added printed detail. The latest warrior features body paint that extends to the back of the figure, as well as a double-sided head featuring confident and warmongering expressions. The blue highlights dotted on the figure, headdress and shield make for an attractive aesthetic and helps the figure pop a little. Speaking of the shield, the newer domed shape makes an appearance here, alongside a new club-cum-sword (called a macuahuitl) made especially for this figure.

Verdict: an impressive and attractive figure in its own right, not only providing a welcome update to an older figure, but acting as a superb complement to it for long-time collectors and fans of Mesoamerican history. 9/10

The build: on the whole, pretty fantastic. It gets off to a pretty mundane start as the base requires around 30 1x4 tiles and 60 1x1 plates to form the sleepers, but the locomotive more than makes up for it. Plenty of interesting techniques are used to form the sides of the central cab section, while the ‘snouts’ that give the Crocodile its name are built using a 7-wide standard that will be familiar to many train MOCers. This results in a surprisingly challenging build for a system set – the pantographs in particular require a degree of patience. The instructions add to the challenge, though not in a good way: the black backgrounds of the 18+ sets look very smart on the box, but with so many dark bley, black and reddish brown parts it can put some strain on the eyes – good lighting in your build environment is thoroughly recommended. 8/10

The figures: two driver-cum-mechanics are included in the set, one male and female. The two are identical with the exception of the head and headpiece, and the sky-blue of their outfits brings a welcome splash of colour to the brown/monochrome mix of the Crocodile. It is a shame that the stand doesn’t include somewhere to display them as in, for instance, the Star Wars UCS range; without taking the roof off, you wouldn’t know there were any included. This may well be a conscious decision given the target audience, though. 7/10

Play value: despite being marketed primarily as a nice thing to have on your mantlepiece, #10277 is not far away at all from being a toy. The two minifigures and their toolbox and wrench just about add some play elements, and even fully-grown adults with little interest in toys will undoubtedly find themselves rocking the loco back and forth on the short length of track. LEGO have made it as easy as possible to transition between its static display state and a fully-motorised play one, however: the standard magnetic couplings and instructions on installing a battery box and motor are testament to this. Buying additional track and motor functions is not an insignificant outlay, but you will surely feel at least an itch to do so having built the Crocodile. 8/10

Model value: within the LEGO community, the train fans are among the true pioneers of the hobby, having in some cases literally written rulebooks on MOC design (and, according to some purists, promptly ripped them up again). For us mere mortals, this set may well be as close as we get to building such fabulously detailed models. This is not the first iteration of the famous Swiss Crocodile (or to give its proper designation, the SBB Ce 6/8 II) we’ve seen in LEGO, but it is by far the most accurate – to start, it isn’t red unlike the previous two! The SNOT used throughout the build results in a terrifically accurate shape. There is plenty of visual interest beyond these techniques, with the handful of printed pieces and general detailing – especially on the cab roof – making for an eye-catching model. There are compromises brought about by the medium, of course: the gap between the snouts and cab, a necessity to allow the loco to negotiate LEGO curves, is especially noticeable from the side, and there should be more conrods between the driving and driven wheels. But for an official LEGO set, this really is as good as it gets. 10/10

Overall verdict: while many LEGO trains have been loosely based on real-world examples, the number of sets explicitly representing real trains is considerably fewer(I make it just four excepting this set: the Disney train, Maersk train, and the BNSF and Santa Fe Super Chief locomotives). One constant with these sets is their high quality, and #10277 certainly delivers on this metric. It represents exceptional value for money, not only as a building experience and beautiful display piece, but also as a great toy and even a parts pack (a price-per-piece ratio of 7.1p, with a huge amount of reddish brown, is not to be sniffed at). This icon of the Swiss railways will delight both seasoned veterans of the hobby and those just starting out on their LEGO train journey. 9/10

The build: this is the first of LEGO’s new helmet range I bought, and I was expecting the build to essentially be a bigger Brickheadz: a core of modified bricks with studs, with plates on the outside. While there is some truth to this – the core is indeed made up of modified bricks with studs – the scale of the helmets coupled with the limitations of the LEGO brick makes the build a surprisingly engaging process. There is enough variety between plates, wedges and slopes to stop it from feeling tedious, and even the tedious bit (namely the breather tubes, made up of just under 40 small train wheels) is such an effective representation of the source material it is entirely worth it. The only drawback is that the black plates and bricks on plates that make up the outer surface will require your full attention to make sure you don’t make a mistake, although the instructions do helpfully highlight which pieces are new to a given step. 9/10

Display value: the helmet series was one of the first in LEGO’s attempts to corner what I will call the ‘ANFOL’ market (Adult but-Not-really-a-Fan Of LEGO), with sets designed to look less like a toy and more like a display piece. The choice of helmets at this scale has wound up being rather well-suited to the task: big enough to be detailed and interesting builds, but small enough to be effective desk ornaments; and not overly expensive, especially for the number of pieces in the set (#75274 in fact has the best price-per-piece ratio of the three 2020 Star Wars helmets). The TIE fighter pilot’s helmet is well represented, and the texturing in particular is used to great effect to define the various features of the imperial ace. In short – it looks terrific. 9/10

Overall verdict: One of the key aims of LEGO’s move towards ANFOLs (I’m going to try and make that stick) seems to be a shift in perceptions about their product. The TIE fighter pilot helmet, with its slick black packaging and foreword in the instructions (including a diagram showing how a brick separator works), certainly feels like a premium product relative to LEGO’s other, more play-focussed offerings. A gratifying build process combined with an unobtrusive yet attractive display piece makes #75274 a success. So much so, in fact, that although I was only planning on getting the one helmet, I may just try and complete the collection… 9/10