Technicopedia

[kennywest]

@KoolJBlack: 2014 sets are available: http://www.technicopedia.com/2014.html

I guess it is still too early to have 2015 sets there :)

[KoolJBlack]

@KoolJBlack: 2014 sets are available: http://www.technicopedia.com/2014.html

I guess it is still too early to have 2015 sets there :)

Aaah, thanks mate. I was looking for the new super cars (24 hours racer) so I thought it wasn't up yet.

Guess I"ll have to wait indeed.

[Blakbird]

Blakbird, thank you for this massive update!

Year 2000 has some issues:

- page title is 1998 (shown in the browser's tab)

- pic for 8307 is missing

Thanks. I fixed the title, but the reason the pic for 8307 is missing is because I don't have that set. Anyone want to donate it?

What might be really interesting, is a timeline of parts - how long various ones have existed for - when revisions occurred, and when they ceased to exist

I'm sure something like this could be extrapolated from existing databases easily enough - eg: bricklink.

Keep in mind that there is no database associated with Technicopedia. All the information is just entered manually and stored in text HTML files, therefore I don't have any obvious way to do what you are requesting. I agree that it might be interesting though!

Databases like Bricklink are not as useful as you might think. Firstly, there are a lot of errors. In almost every case, the year that Bricklink says a part started is actually years before it was available. I always have to go scrub the list of sets the part in and see if it is right. For the more recent years, it is easy to know which parts are new because I remember.

Aaah, thanks mate. I was looking for the new super cars (24 hours racer) so I thought it wasn't up yet.

2015 won't go up until all the sets are out and LDraw files are available for all the sets with all the new parts. Even then, 42039 won't be listed as a supercar, it will be listed as a race car.

[legolijntje]

Thanks. I fixed the title, but the reason the pic for 8307 is missing is because I don't have that set. Anyone want to donate it?

I thought you had all Technic sets.

All these years, I was under the, apparently false, impression that you had all sets...

Seriously though, is there any reason you don't have that specific set?

[Philo]

2015 won't go up until all the sets are out and LDraw files are available for all the sets with all the new parts.

AFAIK I modeled all 1H 2015 Technic models and posted them in Eurobrick LDD/LDraw forum (they are all available here). 2nd half will take longer ;)

[Lucio Switch]

Thanks a lot Blakbird!! Finally I can read about what I've missed in my dark age!!

I thought you had all Technic sets.

All these years, I was under the, apparently false, impression that you had all sets...

Seriously though, is there any reason you don't have that specific set?

A god is fallen!!

[Blakbird]

Seriously though, is there any reason you don't have that specific set?

Yes, there is a reason. As it turns out, deciding what is on the complete list of Technic sets isn't that easy. Is it every set that had the Technic logo on it? The Technic logo was not on the Expert Builder sets, but it was on early Bionicle sets. What about Slizers or Star Wars or Mindstorms? When I originally made my list, 8307 was not on it and that's why I didn't buy it. Looking at pictures of it since then, it is still hard to consider it a Technic set. I have its sister set, the Duel Bikes, and it is hard to consider that a Technic set either. In any case, I didn't buy it originally and I have been unable to find it for any reasonable price since then. I'm not willing to pay a high price for something I don't really want, but I'm willing to include it in the web site if I can.

AFAIK I modeled all 1H 2015 Technic models and posted them in Eurobrick LDD/LDraw forum (they are all available here). 2nd half will take longer ;)

I'm aware of all the work you've done on the 2015 models and I've already downloaded them. Thanks! However, the year isn't done until I have the 2nd half sets as well. I've never tried to break the site into half years.

[skaah]

Thanks for the massive update Blakbird, it is really cool reading about the history of Technic. Did you read the book Brick by Brick, which deals with the crisis at LEGO and how the company resolved it.

I look really forward to reading your opinions on the models themselves.

Will you be adding the Mindstorms sets, and sets such as the CyberMaster or the Dark Side Developers 9754 kit?

[Captainowie]

Ditto... although I enjoy reading about each set, it's great to flick through each year, and see all the new parts, and changes in design.

What might be really interesting, is a timeline of parts - how long various ones have existed for - when revisions occurred, and when they ceased to exist

One site that does what you describe is Technica (http://isodomos.com/technica/technica.html), but that site is now somewhat out of date (having been last updated in 2002).

As it turns out, deciding what is on the complete list of Technic sets isn't that easy.

I was thinking as I read through the descriptions of those years that it was a hard time to be a completionist!

[BachAddict]

Click... click... click... Can't stop reading the new stuff!

A comment on 8435 - it's the only set released by that designer, which explains some of its idiosyncrasy. I don't remember anything else about him, though I did know his name once!

Edit: First paragraph of 2010 is either missing something or has an extra word:

The flagship model, the 8043 Excavator, contained a record 6 motorized functions and 4 motors with the most complex gearbox ever attached to them. This

Also in the new parts, the 7L gear rack is called 5L. And the word "version" is doubled.

Man, 2010 and 2011 were good years!

Might be worth mentioning why the small turntable's hole is square - to allow LA and pneumatic heads, technic beams and so on through!

I find it very interesting how much softer the dark bley 3L axle pin feels than other pins.

Now a round of applause for a job well done!

Edited May 18, 2015 by BachAddict

[Blakbird]

Will you be adding the Mindstorms sets, and sets such as the CyberMaster or the Dark Side Developers 9754 kit?

No, I've consciously excluded those. Mindstorms is a whole other topic in and of itself, and there are already lots of Mindstorms resources out there.

Might be worth mentioning why the small turntable's hole is square - to allow LA and pneumatic heads, technic beams and so on through!

I find it very interesting how much softer the dark bley 3L axle pin feels than other pins.

Thanks for the note about the square hole; that would be a good thing to mention.

Axle pins (and axles in general) have always been made of a softer material than the black or blue friction pins. Axles need to be soft because of the way they slide through slots for installation. The soft material is very noticeable on the new dark bley axle pins when compared to the blue 3L pins.

[KoolJBlack]

2015 won't go up until all the sets are out and LDraw files are available for all the sets with all the new parts. Even then, 42039 won't be listed as a supercar, it will be listed as a race car.

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to it.

[searrius]

I read through all the new year articles. Fascinating to see how things developed over time. I've clicked through the set line-up on Brickset before, seeing how the number of sets ballooned and then declined before stabilizing, so it was nice to read about what was going on behind the scenes during that period (confirming my own guesses). I definitely agree that it was the right choice to do these year pages first - thank you for all your work on this update :)

Only a couple minor things. One, you still mention 8421 as being "by far the most complex" crane on that particular category page, but on the 2013 page you acknowledge that it has been surpassed by 42009. Two, the new axle connector introduced in 2012 is now also available in black as of this year. And I don't know if it was a deliberate choice, but you don't mention the tires used on 42000 when they were introduced (albeit in a Racers set) in 2007.

Lastly, as for what to do next, my suggestion would be to start with the sets linked to from new part descriptions (i.e. "this is discussed further with XXXX"). I think mainly these are 8479 and 8448 - can't remember if there are others.

PS: Would it be worth creating a new "Snow Vehicles" category once you add the 2015 line-up? This would include the new Arctic Truck, the Snow Groomer, and the two snowmobiles.

Edited May 18, 2015 by searrius

[Blakbird]

Only a couple minor things. One, you still mention 8421 as being "by far the most complex" crane on that particular category page, but on the 2013 page you acknowledge that it has been surpassed by 42009.

I didn't update the text on that category page. Looks like I need to go back and do that.

Two, the new axle connector introduced in 2012 is now also available in black as of this year.

Good point. I'll update.

And I don't know if it was a deliberate choice, but you don't mention the tires used on 42000 when they were introduced (albeit in a Racers set) in 2007.

New parts introductions is always a difficult topic. In general, I only call a part new the first time it appears in a Technic set. This becomes even muddier than usual when it was previously in an "almost Technic" set like that Racer. In this case, I probably should have listed it with year 2013 and 42000 because it was a big deal when it became available that year and it is not quite the same as the 8880 tire.

PS: Would it be worth creating a new "Snow Vehicles" category once you add the 2015 line-up? This would include the new Arctic Truck, the Snow Groomer, and the two snowmobiles.

That's a pretty good idea. When I first created the categories, there weren't enough snow vehicles to make a usable category, but there are now. Don't forget "Arctic Action" though.

All of these comments serve to remind me what a tremendous job it is not only to keep my facts straight, but to keep the files in order. I hope the errors discovered so far don't detract too much from the site. I appreciate the proofreading that everyone is doing which will allow the site to be even better.

[bonox]

Only a couple minor things. One, you still mention 8421 as being "by far the most complex" crane on that particular category page, but on the 2013 page you acknowledge that it has been surpassed by 42009.

Contrarily, I like reading them by chronology, which is how the earlier pages were (or appear) to be written. In the context of the 2005 page and the 8421, it was the most complex and still is in relation to its brethren. If you keep rewriting history, the detail gets lost as you're always comparing things to the newest and greatest.

Dunno - it's not my work, but would like to know what Blakbird thinks of this. Either way, it's been a tremendous resource for many years and I continue to thank you for it.

[Jeroen Ottens]

Great site. :thumbup:

I spent too much time yesterday reading through it (again)...

I have no other errors found, other than others have already mentioned.

So thanks again for the hard work you put into this

[Wiseman_2]

Such a great site, it's really been good to see how things have evolved in the last decade or so.

One thing I noticed was that in 2009, 8265 is described as being the 'first half flagship'. I'm 99.9% sure that 8265 was released in the second half; I still have the prelim image saved on my HDD alongside that of 8258 and the Snowgroomer, and I was also under the impression that the concept of a first half flagship didn't come about until 2011 with 8070 (and since then, we've had a 1000+ part set released as the 1H flagship each year).

Once again, it's a brilliant site

[Blakbird]

Contrarily, I like reading them by chronology, which is how the earlier pages were (or appear) to be written. In the context of the 2005 page and the 8421, it was the most complex and still is in relation to its brethren. If you keep rewriting history, the detail gets lost as you're always comparing things to the newest and greatest.

Dunno - it's not my work, but would like to know what Blakbird thinks of this. Either way, it's been a tremendous resource for many years and I continue to thank you for it.

For the history pages, I agree that things should be told chronologically. Although I try to carefully use words like "at the time" for statements about the biggest or most complex sets. For the category pages, I think they need to be up to date. If a new crane is released, it will be on the crane page and should be discussed if it is unusual.

One thing I noticed was that in 2009, 8265 is described as being the 'first half flagship'. I'm 99.9% sure that 8265 was released in the second half; I still have the prelim image saved on my HDD alongside that of 8258 and the Snowgroomer, and I was also under the impression that the concept of a first half flagship didn't come about until 2011 with 8070 (and since then, we've had a 1000+ part set released as the 1H flagship each year).

Our own archives here at Eurobricks confirm that there were indeed 1H and 2H half releases in 2009, but I think you are right that 8265 was not the 1H flagship. I think it was 8264. I'll update the page.

[Blakbird]

The "new parts this year" section is my favorite, so I appreciate you started with this!

I could have called it "Technic parts created in LDraw by Philo this year" and it would still be accurate.

Thanks for the massive update Blakbird, it is really cool reading about the history of Technic. Did you read the book Brick by Brick, which deals with the crisis at LEGO and how the company resolved it.

I have not read that book, but I did attend a lecture by the author so I am aware of much of the history.

[Boxerlego]

Nice work on the major update. Here is an 1997 Technic set with the octan logo that I still got the instruction book to but I cant say the same thing about the stretchy string.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Boxerlego

[mostlytechnic]

Found a couple missing new parts on the 2014 page:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=15460

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=15461

Both are used in the snowmobile - the first is exclusive to that set. The second is also used in a bunch fo Chima, SW, and Super Heroes sets that same year and 2015.

[GoldCivetta]

funny thing, I named my lego tiny turbos company Blakbird, without even thinking about the guy on the technic forums! it just sounded cool when I thought of it. you can se some of them in my flickr stream.

[Blakbird]

UPDATE

I've made a smaller update to Technicopedia. Previously, I had added categories for all the play sets including Competition, Slizer, Roborider, Speed Slammer, Star Wars, and Pull-Back Racers, but there was no text or model comparisons written yet. I have gone back in and completed those categories.

This process led me to an important conclusion. When I first started the site, I did not intend to include any of the models in those categories because I didn't consider them "true Technic". Later, the completionist got the better of me and I decided to add them. However, writing an entire page for each Roborider, for instance, is a daunting thought. Since each Slizer, each Roborider, and each Speed Slammer is basically the same thing and has no functions, I decided that the category pages will be all I do for these models. When you click on one of those models it will take you to the category page instead of an individual model page. I added extra description and part counts to the comparison tables to make sure all the information was still there.

Once again I have cause to curse the loss of my old computer. When I replaced it I lost my copy of Photoshop and After Effects because they won't run on the new operating system. Without them, I am severely hampered especially in making animations. There just aren't that many people writing fancy new code to make animated GIFs these days, and Adobe no longer sells the software as standalone products.

[zux]

Once again I have cause to curse the loss of my old computer. When I replaced it I lost my copy of Photoshop and After Effects because they won't run on the new operating system. Without them, I am severely hampered especially in making animations. There just aren't that many people writing fancy new code to make animated GIFs these days, and Adobe no longer sells the software as standalone products.

Oh, that's sad. You could try running your previous OS in a virtual environment? I believe PS and AF doesn't need hardware acceleration, so it should run without any issues.

Edited May 23, 2015 by zux

[Blakbird]

Oh, that's sad. You could try running your previous OS in a virtual environment? I believe PS and AF doesn't need hardware acceleration, so it should run without any issues.

Sadly not possible. It was a MacOS app written for the PowerPC chip. It cannot be run on my newer machine with an Intel chip without Rosetta, and Apple ditched that a long time ago.