42215 Volvo EC500 Hybrid Excavator

[Lipko]

It's hard to say anything. Is it a management problem? Too much sets for too few employees? Too many and too long business trips and meetings just for some sweet talking with the license holders and most of the work time is occupied by that? It's that much harder to do licenced sets than custom sets (the answer is obviousy yes but I don't have much experience with that).

I can't believe set designers are below medicore level, which these models suggest.

[Toastie]

11 hours ago, Lipko said:

Is it a management problem? Too much sets for too few employees? Too many and too long business trips and meetings just for some sweet talking with the license holders and most of the work time is occupied by that?

Tough questions ...

... however, I believe (nothing more than that) that far below top management, some folks messing around - OK, sorry, deeply analyzing "TLG profit data" - reported to top management that F1 and multiple other licenses, including Volvo and (as in logical and) hybrid generate far more profit than anything technical at all. Accordingly, 42115 may be a true shelf model, camouflaged as "Technic", as are so many other TLG "Technic" sets today.

I believe it is profit - which of course includes sweet-talking, but for a reason.

Best
Thorsten

    

[Lim CL]

1 hour ago, Toastie said:

Tough questions ...

... however, I believe (nothing more than that) that far below top management, some folks messing around - OK, sorry, deeply analyzing "TLG profit data" - reported to top management that F1 and multiple other licenses, including Volvo and (as in logical and) hybrid generate far more profit than anything technical at all. Accordingly, 42115 may be a true shelf model, camouflaged as "Technic", as are so many other TLG "Technic" sets today.

I believe it is profit - which of course includes sweet-talking, but for a reason.

Best
Thorsten

    

This year TLG so messy up with pricing. Look at Star Wars side. More worst than Technic. Review on Lego website are 1.5 stars for most of sets released on August.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Hi everyone, this is a short extra video from RacingBrick 

 

[allanp]

A Technic set that's "meant to be a display piece" is not meant to be a Technic set. No more poor excuses please.

[SNIPE]

3 hours ago, allanp said:

A Technic set that's "meant to be a display piece" is not meant to be a Technic set. No more poor excuses please.

100% agree.

[Toastie]

Well, TLG's current catalog is literally flushed with Technic Display Sets (TDS') 

How many current Technic sets are actually out there?

Best
Thorsten

 

[kbalage]

16 hours ago, allanp said:

A Technic set that's "meant to be a display piece" is not meant to be a Technic set. No more poor excuses please.

It is not an excuse, this is how the set is proudly promoted on lego.com. This is the reality of LEGO Technic in 2025. 

[Auroralampinen]

9 minutes ago, kbalage said:

It is not an excuse, this is how the set is proudly promoted on lego.com. This is the reality of LEGO Technic in 2025. 

That's really sad and upsetting:(

[efferman]

18 hours ago, allanp said:

A Technic set that's "meant to be a display piece" is not meant to be a Technic set. No more poor excuses please.

As a display piece they had could do this style

Edited August 15, 2025 by efferman

[1gor]

3 hours ago, efferman said:

As a display piece they had could do this style

 

But your Liebherr has 8 motors that perfectly represents excavator functionalities...

[allanp]

9 hours ago, kbalage said:

It is not an excuse, this is how the set is proudly promoted on lego.com. This is the reality of LEGO Technic in 2025. 

It is an excuse. There's no reason it can't be really functional/playable as well as being a display piece. Pneumatics would even look better and more authentic because you wouldn't have a bunch of brightly coloured gears and axles throughout the boom (unless the real one has those and nobody noticed!).

Being a display piece doesn't automatically prevent it being good as well. It's like saying "A banana can't be food as well as being yellow!". Of course it can! It can be a display piece and be a good Technic set at the same time.

So please, for the love of Technic, no more excuses, unless you're being ironic/sarcastic!

[Jundis]

8 hours ago, efferman said:

As a display piece they had could do this style

True that. But swapping the bucket for the 42215 would maybe look nice?

Edited August 15, 2025 by Jundis

[Auroralampinen]

1 hour ago, allanp said:

It is an excuse. There's no reason it can't be really functional/playable as well as being a display piece. Pneumatics would even look better and more authentic because you wouldn't have a bunch of brightly coloured gears and axles throughout the boom (unless the real one has those and nobody noticed!).

Being a display piece doesn't automatically prevent it being good as well. It's like saying "A banana can't be food as well as being yellow!". Of course it can! It can be a display piece and be a good Technic set at the same time.

So please, for the love of Technic, no more excuses, unless you're being ironic/sarcastic!

I agree:). 

And i have strong feelings, when a excavator nerd kid gets this as christmas present from family. The kid would be so upset and disappointed, how slow this is, and family leaves a negative and angry feedback. I think this set will hurt legos reputation. Because last 18+ big sets, like the cat were playable. But this is painfully slow, so when kid finds that out, I think, kid will move to non lego model rc excavator kits. and will not come back again for building legos. Because he thinks all lego technic stuff is painfully slow and not fun to play with:/.

[kbalage]

1 hour ago, allanp said:

So please, for the love of Technic, no more excuses, unless you're being ironic/sarcastic!

I was being a bit sarcastic, of course, but it really is the sad reality of Technic at the moment, and part of the whole 18+ product nonsense. A LEGO set can and should be both functional and good-looking, but the “adult-focused” marketing trend is taking over the theme. These days, anything bigger will be expensive, and automatically gets slapped with an 18+ label, which seems to mean it should look decent on display, require minimal building effort, and offer less and less interesting or playable functionality. It’s been a clear trend in recent years, with only a few pleasant surprises along the way, but the overall direction is hard to miss. 

[Toastie]

3 hours ago, allanp said:

It is an excuse.

Yes, well phrased by TLG of course. Excuse as in: "We possibly could do better, but - excuse us, 18+ sets sell so well, we don't need and thus don't want to be." TLG seems to consciously taking that route. I may be wrong. It is just a feeling. 

Did you read TLG's website "details" section for this set? It says all over the place "for interested" and "adults" - wanting to "find out" ... stuff. It never says "play with it". Or "closely resembling real operation".

This is no excuse - as far as I am concerned, it is an - upfront voiced - and well-thought-out plan.

1 hour ago, kbalage said:

the “adult-focused” marketing trend is taking over the theme

100% agreeing. As others have said. It is not anymore what it was. It is "selling". And apparently solely that. 

Of course, this set could be made “better” - but it appears as if TLG simply does not care anymore about being good or better. They seem to simply go for "more". 

Just my 2 cents. It is a nightmare.

Best
Thorsten 

Edited August 15, 2025 by Toastie

[Timewhatistime]

What I simply don't understand: How can anyone (in the TLG management) think that cartoon-ish multi-coloured gears, pins, axles are appropriate for this pretentious 18+ line with its so-called 'display models'? Same thing with the building instructions, which are rather 4- than 18+...

For display models a clean look should be the very first priority. 

The intellectual level of instructions adding only 2 or 3 parts per page shows what TLG thinks of their adult 18+ customers...

[Toastie]

3 minutes ago, Timewhatistime said:

The intellectual level of instructions adding only 2 or 3 parts per page shows what TLG thinks of their adult 18+ customers...

Well, "Volvo" (replace that with any other license they have) lovers, having enough money to buy such a set (in fairly large numbers), who may have never ever come in contact with LEGO ... or just a couple of times back in their youth, are such 18+ customers, aren't they?

"18+", black box, licensed, and regularly overpriced ... what story does it tell? I believe it says: If you are an experienced LEGO builder - don't buy it. If you never came close to LEGO building, and you love the license/theme: Go for it.

The thing for me is, when does TLG crack up? In the past, I was simply desperate seeing my absolute favorable company, hobby, theme, toy, ... going down the drain. Today, there are all the numerous alternatives - which makes me far less - desperate. Actually, after my 2 days-ago visit to LEGO Land/Billund, it is - much more than OK. It is - relieving.

Best
Thorsten 

[Jockos]

I understand that TLG wants to please everyone, who are new to Lego, by having dumbed-down instructions and colourful innards for easier building flow.

The problem is that system sets get covered up by a fine outer shell where most of the time these colourful innards can't be seen (even more frustratingly they have newly coloured pieces for moulds), but Technic sets don't get the same treatment. I know, I know, the blue pins are the core of the medium, but I haven't heard someone say for a black model with red-yellow-blue parts shining through (even sticking out) that what a pleasant sight it is.

I repeat myself as I've said it several weeks ago, at least TLG SHOULD provide non-blue pins for the models' visual consistency. I can't imagine what's the difference between having blue and black pins in one set, and only 1 white (which cannot be seen) in another set.

[kbalage]

10 hours ago, Timewhatistime said:

What I simply don't understand: How can anyone (in the TLG management) think that cartoon-ish multi-coloured gears, pins, axles are appropriate for this pretentious 18+ line with its so-called 'display models'? Same thing with the building instructions, which are rather 4- than 18+...

For display models a clean look should be the very first priority. 

The intellectual level of instructions adding only 2 or 3 parts per page shows what TLG thinks of their adult 18+ customers...

We’re drifting off-topic already, and there’s a lot that could be said about this, but in a nutshell: the 18+ category is clearly aimed at adults looking to spend money on “quality me time,” many of whom probably never built a LEGO set before. Since the pandemic, the 18+ category has exploded, and marketing seems to think it’s the best thing to happen to the company since the invention of the stud.

Technic is probably the biggest victim of this trend. The 18+ push started here with one of the 1:8 supercars (I think the Sián), and from there more and more sets appeared under this label. Technic was probably chosen for this because you can build bigger models with relatively fewer elements and still sell them for a premium price. Some functionality, like the fancy gearboxes in the 1:8 cars is added so people can say they built something that “works,” even though they’ll most likely never use those mechanisms. Not all of these sets are purely about looks, there are a few exceptions with interesting and playable functions, but in general, they’re designed to be accessible for people with minimal LEGO experience, and to look good on a shelf. And of course, almost all of them are licensed, because the assumption seems to be that adults only want buildable models of things they already like in real life.

There are other trends too, like the ever-growing flood of licensed sets in the theme, or the self-fulfilling prophecy around the decline of motorization and the increasing amount of cars, but I’d rather make a video about that than write pages here.

[Anio]

Not to mention that even experienced builders would make mistakes if ALL the parts inside were black.

[Timewhatistime]

Fair enough, but on the other side one shouldn't go so far to claim that blue/red/tan pins, red/yellow axles and green/blue/red/tan gears contribute to an asthetic look for display models. So the question remains... why, TLG???

[kbalage]

30 minutes ago, Timewhatistime said:

Fair enough, but on the other side one shouldn't go so far to claim that blue/red/tan pins, red/yellow axles and green/blue/red/tan gears contribute to an asthetic look for display models. So the question remains... why, TLG???

Technic used to work as a system, with fairly strict color coding to make identifying and differentiating parts easier. But with the rise of display models, those rules are increasingly bent, like the reintroduction of 2L black axles in Technic sets. The problem is that TLG wants to stick to their own rules while also delivering better-looking models, and at some point they’ll need to decide which path to prioritize.

[Timewhatistime]

TLG once succeeded in delivering better-looking models - in the 1980s/1990s (at least in terms of colour vomit). I can't remember if we had any problems arising from absence of colour-coding in these days... actually, don't think so.

Yes, I know, once there weren't that much different pins, gears and so on as nowadays... but one could trust in the costumers skills and intelligence... or at least make better colour choices than green gears and brown axles (colours which aren't often used in the Technic Universe and so really stick out).

 

@kbalage I really like your videos with your comments on the building stages and well-balanced judgements;  always looking forward for news on your YT channel.

Edited August 16, 2025 by Timewhatistime

[Oh_Hi_Mao]

3 hours ago, Anio said:

Not to mention that even experienced builders would make mistakes if ALL the parts inside were black.

Hard to agree, I built reobrix set with all black pins, mistake was hard to make because pins were packet separately and you simply don't add them in the same pot. No mistakes were made for 4000+ parts set and I was not very careful