The MB Arocs outriggers, niche or good part, I can't decide.

[SNIPE]

Just the grey part could be used as a good gear rack, since it is 14L but has different holes to enumerate several gear rack sizes.

Many lego parts have been used creativley, especically in creator/system MOCS This is probably not going to be an exception

[Corvette3]

I feel like TLG knows what they are doing, the outriggers on 42009 were a little disappointing, they where a technical nightmare and they could just barely manage to lift it, i feel like these are a good idea as long as they can still have a decent range of imaginative uses,(Sariel's fire pump) we will come to accept them, now if i could only get one of these bloody sets here and for a good price... not likely.

[allanp]

Having just bought this set and seen these parts for the first time, I must say that my first impression is that they are Pieces Of Other Pieces. They seem so large and specialized that they remind me of Bionicle more than Technic. Maybe they will grow on me. I do appreciate the extra strength they provide, but providing strength via monolithic parts seems like cheating.

Creating strength out of single large parts is what they do in real life. A chassis rail in a truck in real life is one vast part for strength. I wouldn't call that cheating, just a good idea. At nearly 2800 there is still lots left to build

[1974]

Yeah, but a chassis rail in a real truck is not a complex moulded part. It's a rather standard peice of steel with lotsa holes, attachement points and welded sub parts. So no, that comparison does not work

Following your idea, the entire chassis of a LEGO truck should then be one fat complex moulded part. That would indeed create the missing strengh that studless have. Of course beams'n'plates did that all the way back in '77 with no problem

I'm sure there will be good uses for that part but I'm also equally sure TLG could have come up with a nicer, discrete, solution for that task. And that would have been more fun to build also

But maybe they actually tried playing with the latest mobile crane, as that is made of suck, and got tired of all the noise from CS

Hence Technic Jr.

[Blakbird]

Creating strength out of single large parts is what they do in real life. A chassis rail in a truck in real life is one vast part for strength. I wouldn't call that cheating, just a good idea.

Indeed so, but working with a fixed palette of non-specialized parts is what makes building with Lego so different than engineering a truck. For me, technical Lego building is about breaking down a structure and function into its smallest constituent parts. Once you make one big part to take the place of many, some of the appeal is lost.

[allanp]

I guess it all depends where you draw the line between useful new addition and too specialised. We could build a universal joint out of many non standard parts just like we could these new outrigger parts, but it wouldn't be as good.

[Richard Dower]

i think these new elements will end up in the spare parts bin....they are like those highly specialised parts TLG were making in the early 2000's...a Lego designer given a budget increase, and he goes mad.......creates something that has very little reusability.

I guess it all depends where you draw the line between useful new addition and too specialised. We could build a universal joint out of many non standard parts just like we could these new outrigger parts, but it wouldn't be as good.

but the point is...there are standard technic parts that could accomplish the same purpose, look at the boom of 8285, just technic bricks with holes and gear racks. simple and effective, how are these new rack parts better?

Creating strength out of single large parts is what they do in real life. A chassis rail in a truck in real life is one vast part for strength. I wouldn't call that cheating, just a good idea. At nearly 2800 there is still lots left to build

but the added strength is still limited by its length, you cant create very long gear racks with this part like you can using conventional methods, and there are ways to increase structural rigidigty of conventional rack designs.