valenciaeric

I work in Euros so 42000 was 100 euros or 80 GBP back in the day - half what the McLaren cost. USD has appreciated a lot since 2013 so the price increases there are not as much as in EUR or GBP, for instance.

Let´s not forget that the McLaren was almost a 100% price increase over 42000 with about 25% more pieces.

They did locking diffs, they did automatic gearboxes and they have done the full cyclic on a helicopter - 3 things people had on their wishlists for years but unfortunately the sets they implemented them on were not that good (I won´t comment on the Airbus since I don´t own it). The licensing obsession probably stems from the last successful new own brand line being Friends. Nexo, Dots, Monkey, Hidden and a few others I have forgotten all tanked, whereas 2nd generation Harry Potter and Indiana Jones became instant best sellers so why risk losing when there are sure fire ways to be a hit. With Playmobil it is the same, I only see branded stuff on the shelves nowadays.

I fancied building something new in the summer but since the current range didn´t inspire me as most of it is more expensive duplicates of stuff I already have (if you have the Bugatti and Sian then you have the Ferrari). I would never buy a knock-off of an original set (if I don´t have it it´s because it didn´t inspire me or is a really old one with outdated parts solutions) but I tried a Chinese MOC brand and the only real downers were the manual being hard to read and that 2 parts out of 3700 were missing.Everything else, packaging included, was to the same quality as a Lego or Playmobil premium product and the set was technically superior and had the buggy motors Lego hasn´t made for years, which are quite useful. Of course, new buyers are arriving every day and they won´t remember the old prices or models so can only compare with what they know - it´s similar to the dumbing down of the City Police and Fire sets to target younger builders.

Indeed, everyone is free to make their own buying decisions and of course who am I to tell them what to do? Losing a 5 figure amount every year will not hurt Lego as indeed they have been getting more money in since I quit than before so it really only benefits me personally but since I was told to deal with the things I don´t like, that´s my way of doing it. The bigger issue is that they seem to be like a big oil tanker, stuck on a fixed route that takes a huge effort and time to change even slightly and when they do make big changes like stopping B models, the new powered up / control plus, they are generally not well received by the community. The next step may even be to eliminate the printed manuals and I am sure they will say it is for ecological reasons.

So in summary, the company has got so big it cannot change anything in its processes anymore. I have dealt with it buy not buying any Lego since 2021 and TBH it hasn´t been much of a hardship.

The best Technic years for larger sets were 2015 and 2016. 2015 wins alone just on the back of the Arocs but 2016 had 4 really strong sets. Nice variety of models with excellent functions, no stupid control plus, reasonable pricing and B-models. It´s been a slow slide into mediocrity since then.

A bit like those City planes? In ten years it will be impossible to tell the difference between Lego and Playmobil apart from the pricing.

Some of my fav sets (Unimog, Arocs, Claas) were licenced so that alone is not the issue for me. What is, is when the licence is used on sets with no added Technic value, such as Dom´s charger, Top Gear car and the recent shell supercars just to shift units. A full sized backhoe JCB would indeed be an attractive model in the same veign as the Arocs was and so would a Claas combine but it´s like with City - they won´t ever make a farm theme again even though it would be a best seller.

My perception is the quality of the sets and parts is not increasing as much as their profits are. The lack of B Models, the backward step new motor system and repetitiveness of models (supercar series, mid and small size cars with no technical features) plus the reliance on licenced products is gradually draining the DNA from the theme. There could have been a Combine Harvester, a Backhoe digger or a bus of some sort yet we get the same dirge year in year out.

IIRC there was a tech issue about stacking V2s with multiples of some motors- so that might be why this set has 2 V1´s. https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/8781/why-is-the-lego-ir-receiver-v2-not-widely-produced-or-are-they If you got 42030 when it was released, I don´t get why this is an issue now - 9 years later. Why not request the correct part to Lego back then?

Being a D2C exclusive, it will be harder to get 10317 at a good discount, whereas 42110 could easily have been had for sub 125 euros. Put them side by side as per Racing Brick review and it´s clear that the Technic one is chunkier and not much less detailed. The Mack Truck is perhaps the closest Technic model to the Creator Land Rover in terms of design and part count but that set also cost about 100 euros less. Inflation has been high for 1 year but not during the pandemic years yet Lego seem to be using reseller pricing as their strategy these days.

Give it a couple more years and the Creator sets will be more complex than the Technic ones. On the other hand, it blows my mind how Lego can charge so much for an inferior product to 42110

Have any of you made a Lego buying decision purely based on the opinion of a product review? Seeing the part list, functions in action and the size in scale to other sets are pretty much the criteria I use.

The pattern used to be an infrared controlled flagship in August one year followed by a standard PF set the next year and the supercar series was separate. Last year there was no flagship at all. Things changed when they started releasing sets like the Landrover at weird times of the year, which could have almost been a flagship itself if it had had PF and of course when Con+Troll was launched.

Icons as they are now known.

• D2C: 10317 - {? Land Rover Classic Defender ?} (18+) • Includes 2336 pieces • US $239.99 - DE/FR €239.99 - UK £209.99 • Release: APRIL 1ST 2023 source Jedi Penguin.

I think they were just being cheap and looking for an excuse to cut expenses on the main items then sell the accessories as a sideline - just as Apple have done with their phones by eliminating chargers and earphones and then selling them as standalone items. Drones and many other RC toys are provided with their own control devices while costing less than an equivalent lego set. I have no interest or enthusiasm for the 2023 sets based on the list so far.

I should have been clearer and made reference to the medium sized set aircraft as being unpopular. The little ones at the 10 euro to 50 euro price point have been more popular and maybe that´s to do with their swooshability and compactness The bigger sets tend to be shelf warmers - the previous two helicopters, display (and in no way military, cough cough) jet and cargo plane are perfect examples as they could be found months after retirement and have not really appreciated. Whether licenced sets will do better remains to be seen - perhaps one reason is indeed the storage space they take up with the blades or wingspan, in my case these are the first sets I take apart once built. Lego still make them to add variety to the line, as they do with a number of Star Wars spaceships that are not best sellers either so I guess they are not losing money.

Planes and helicopters have never been very popular technic sets in terms of sales. It can be seen in the resale value of discontinued sets, which are barely above RRP unless something strange happens like wwit the infamous Osprey.

I remember the last time TLG ran into financial issues, one reason was they had a bloated range and also kept making new specific parts. Right now those 2 things are happening again.

I think it´s a typo and they mean differential gear not lock. Hard to do one with the grey diff.

42129 Mercedes 4x4 for 120 euros new and sealed. My best ever technica bargain but honestly the RRP is massively inflated - it´s a 250 euro set at best in terms of content.

Rear axle assembly from 18:00 and centre diff at the beginning. It´s the same system as the supercar sequential gearbox using the orange piece to engage and disengage the lock.

I think that the medium motor drives the winch and locks the diff. Maybe there are 2 L motors working together to power the centre differential and a third for steering?