The Green Brick Giant Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 We will not be getting a monorail anytime soon. If you listen to the interview about the new Train set they talk about how they asked LEGO if they could make a few new Train wheel molds and LEGO had to think about it. Do you really think LEGO would waste their time making new molds and everything for a a sub theme of a sub theme that seemed to fail 15 years ago? Quote
Spyder Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 We will not be getting a monorail anytime soon.If you listen to the interview about the new Train set they talk about how they asked LEGO if they could make a few new Train wheel molds and LEGO had to think about it. Do you really think LEGO would waste their time making new molds and everything for a a sub theme of a sub theme that seemed to fail 15 years ago? Yeah, but what about that Toys R Us exclusive we voted for? One of those pictures had a monorail in it. I think there's a possibility that we might get a new monorail in the City sets. Quote
CP5670 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 In the 1989 catalogs in the introduction of space police shows Blacktron doing the infamous Monorail heist. They even captured 1 yellow space guy !! (lying on the floor smiling on the 2nd page). At the same time SP1 responds to the heist and summons all units. First page: http://www.dukenostalgia.com/Lego/1989usa/...89usa_pg11.html Second page: http://www.dukenostalgia.com/Lego/1989usa/...89usa_pg12.html So could we see a new monorail heist set? I always figured that guy was killed from being rammed by the Battrax. That is a great site by the way, and has several old catalogs that aren't on Peeron or Brickfactory. I didn't know about this one before. I've always been told (not sure where the story originates, but it might be Jan Beyer from LEGO) that LEGO lost money on every single monorail set they sold. It was a very expensive system to produce and after set 6691 the molds for it were destroyed, so that nobody would ever get it into their heads to ever release another monorail set. Even if parts of this story are exaggerated, I'd be very surprised if there was going to be another one. I doubt that was specifically the reason the molds were taken offline. The monorails were quite expensive though (6991 was $170 and I believe 6990 was $130; converted to today's prices that would be much more), so they must have been very low volume products if they still couldn't turn a profit. I think an entirely new monorail system would be better than trying to resurrect the old parts, which would be incompatible anyway due to the light gray change. The old monorail system is great but it does have a number of flaws, like the limited train length and the fact that monorails can only be started/stopped at a track switch. Quote
Ralph_S Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 I always figured that guy was killed from being rammed by the Battrax. That is a great site by the way, and has several old catalogs that aren't on Peeron or Brickfactory. I didn't know about this one before. I doubt that was specifically the reason the molds were taken offline. The monorails were quite expensive though (6991 was $170 and I believe 6990 was $130; converted to today's prices that would be much more), so they must have been very low volume products if they still couldn't turn a profit. I think an entirely new monorail system would be better than trying to resurrect the old parts, which would be incompatible anyway due to the light gray change. The old monorail system is great but it does have a number of flaws, like the limited train length and the fact that monorails can only be started/stopped at a track switch. Of course, for the moulds it shouldn't matter whether the part is old grey or new grey. In any case, the old ones are gone. The monorails were quite expensive. I know that 6690 -the "grand daddy" of them all- used to cost 345 Guilders way back in 87, making it the most expensive LEGO set to that date with a healthy margin. To put this in perspective, I was 12 years old at the time and I got 10 guilders in pocket money every week. Perhaps the high price was part of the problem. They could never produce them cheaply enough to make the price low enough for the set to be bought in decent numbers. I didn't buy mine for 345, but waited a while. My local toy shop ultimately sold me one for 200 Guilders, because they couldn't get rid of it otherwise. Cheers, Ralph Quote
CP5670 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 Of course, for the moulds it shouldn't matter whether the part is old grey or new grey. In any case, the old ones are gone. The monorails were quite expensive. I know that 6690 -the "grand daddy" of them all- used to cost 345 Guilders way back in 87, making it the most expensive LEGO set to that date with a healthy margin. To put this in perspective, I was 12 years old at the time and I got 10 guilders in pocket money every week.Perhaps the high price was part of the problem. They could never produce them cheaply enough to make the price low enough for the set to be bought in decent numbers. I didn't buy mine for 345, but waited a while. My local toy shop ultimately sold me one for 200 Guilders, because they couldn't get rid of it otherwise. I just meant that any tracks wouldn't match up with existing ones in color. You are probably right about the high prices turning off most buyers, which is the same reason trains disappeared from retail stores. I got large sets as a kid but realistically only once a year, on birthdays. I would expect the 6399 Airport Shuttle to have been the most expensive, as it was considerably larger than the two Space monorails. Lugnet says $140 in the US, but I think that seems inaccurate given the prices of the Space monorails. On the other hand, in recent years TLG has been more inclined to release very expensive sets geared towards AFOLs more than kids (UCS, modular town, etc.), which they hardly ever did back then. Quote
chris_austin Posted June 24, 2009 Posted June 24, 2009 Has anyone ever tried to make their own monorail system? I can't imagine it being too difficult or complicated. Sure it might be expensive due to lots of parts, especially for lots of track but monorail sets aren't cheap anyway... Quote
civilians_in_space Posted June 28, 2009 Posted June 28, 2009 you know, i wouldn't mind if that base was a set either for 2010 Quote
Dr Kilroy Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 That would be really nice! But it would be powered by Power Functions, I hate Power Functions. Quote
Big Cam Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 Not sure if this ever came to realization or not but a monorail for space police would actually make sense. You could have a prisoner transport car, its brilliant. Then again, the skeptical side of me says, what's the point to a train that goes in circles in the space police line since they are usually about chases. Quote
Cardinal Brick Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 While it would be nice to to see a new monorail or any powerfunctions light railway for the space theme I sadly can't see it any time in the near future. Though I'd love to be proved wrong. Quote
Piterio Posted February 26, 2010 Posted February 26, 2010 Refreshing the topic... The base is going to be released in 2nd half of 2010 and it looks similar to the base from video, so hope is returning. Talking about monorail - Space Cargo Train with lots of goodies taken over by Blackhole Gang... it's just too much impossible. But who knows, in TLC (SPIII Crew) there are some of workers who are part of "Lug" community. They may be reading your ideas right now (same situation like Imperial Flagship) ;) Quote
Holodoc Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 Refreshing the topic...[snip] Do you mind to share the source? Do you have photos? Quote
Piterio Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 http://toyfair2010.figures.com/showphoto.php/photo/927 Here you are. As you can see, the base is very similar to what we have seen in Space Police Logs. There are also pictures of upcoming Lunar Limo (with joker-like alien) and another SP Ship (similar to neptun carrier from Atlantis IMO). No more monorail hints yet but it may be released in future as - let's say - special edition set. Quote
Tingy Xplode Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 A futuristic monorail is my life's dream. It will go great with Space MOC's! I hope it gets released. Quote
Oky Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 (edited) Sorry, but I don't see any resemblance at all (except for the color scheme of course). The 2010 sets are already being discussed in the appropriate topic, and the base doesn't have much to do with this topic, so I think this revival was kinda pointless. Edited February 27, 2010 by Oky Wan Kenobi Quote
Piranha Posted February 28, 2010 Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) This topic had given me such hope after the Seatron and Best Monorail I had been discussing lately, appropriately timed However then Hinckley crushed my dream But it could very well be a possibility and maybe these hints are meaningful after all EDIT: LOL just realized this was a bumped topic Edited February 28, 2010 by Macoco Quote
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