plethorabricks

Hopefully this topic will serve as a good place to discuss stickers as they relate specifically to Technic models. Here are three thoughts from me to start off. Feel free to comment on them: 1) I like that 42042 Crawler Crane uses actual pieces for the vents on its cab, where even a set as good as 8043 has its vents only in sticker form. I think stickers should add something to the model that otherwise isn't possible in piece form in the design or the scale. The 42022 Hot Rod stickers are a good example of this. 2) I'm not yet sure how I feel about stickers with a dominant color supplanting the color of the piece that they are stuck on (transparent pieces excepted). The 42021 Snowmobile, 42025 Cargo Plane and 42040 Fire Plane are good examples of this. They all do a good job rounding out the color scheme of the finished model, but to go on to use those pieces you need to be able to live with the stickers' designs. 3) I've noticed that a few stickers, one on 42025 Cargo Plane (front landing gear), and two on 42035 Mining Truck (rear tail) contain drawings of lights. Headlights and taillights on official Technic models have typically been built from LEGO pieces, and more often than not look good and pop out nicely, yet on these models they are flat stickers. I don't have either model right now to make an in-the-room confirmation, but it feels to me to like a disappointing compromise in the appearance of the model, even if 1x1 studs are too large for the scale of the model.

Apparently I'm really late to respond to this review, which I enjoyed reading! The major spotlight of this set, to me, is how it stands up as an expensive "premium" product. There doesn't seem to be an official definition of what this is, and a further general discussion warrants its own thread, but about this model I can say this: - At my local Lego store, they had just finished building it. It looks great on the outside, but it is still "Arctic Tracker" orange - I like the actual "lava orange" color much better. Put this model next to any other red or orange Technic model and it runs the risk of looking worse than if displayed by itself. - The store still had one boxed copy on the shelf at night on the day of release. The box had dings in the MIDDLE of the front paper cover, which clearly exposed the white paper stock. Not sure who would be willing to buy this copy without even a tiny discount. As a premium product, it is still placed on the same shelves as every non-premium product, which means it is subject to all the same handling as any "ordinary" set: all the dropping, dinging, sneezing, nose-wiping, and mouthing that children (of all ages, frankly) can muster. - I haven't seen wheels packaged so well in any set since 2000's 8458 Silver Champion. That is a long time. And yet other sets which might be considered special (Architecture, Ideas), but far lower in price, have more sturdy packaging overall. The Maze I just got for Father's Day is wonderfully packaged. - After many years of having set 4502 (X-wing with white elastic bands) on an exposed shelf, the elastic bands work just as well today as they did when the set was built. Despite this being a premium product, some of the dissatisfaction presented in this thread is of the "ordinary" variety (build instruction steps and pin colors vs. color-blind and lower dexterity build accessibility, the "wrong" gears in the "wrong" place, missing/incomplete "real-world" features, packaging, sticker shelf life) that often accompanies sets priced much lower than this one. And yet in this same thread, the essence of Lego being a platform open for modification has been upheld in premium fashion, particularly motivated in this instance by the gap in personal expectations leading up to the release of this set. So "premium" is still a work in progress.

If this was an ordinary Technic release, someone would be halfway to having this built in red and yellow by now. Does anyone dare make the attempt on this one? (I'm not even close to being that great of a designer/builder)

You could take a Robotics Instruction Set 2.0 set from the early 2000s and build something similar to this, with far fewer pieces and at a smaller scale (think of a candy/piece sorter on treads). But it's the largess of this set, coupled with the way the functions are routed from one motor, that makes it its selling point.

Ok...but do you have an opinion on the bucket wheel excavator? :) This thing belongs in the center of a large GBC sequence. They could easily re-color/re-brand this into a GBC line of Technic products.

Caution, speculation ahead: The rubber bands might suggest a "bi-state switch" operation, or perhaps even friction forces like the Lego X-Wings have used for years. Curious. Edit: Or perhaps an auto-centering mechanism for the steering.

Best tractor since 8284. Tires are great. Seems to have lots of manual knobs, so playability should be high. Why is the (5L?) tan axle in the front sticking out?

The pre-sale "camo" version would make a great contest or prize giveaway. The "which set should I buy" thread is going to explode this year.

Yikes, this is huge. What could the B-model possibly be?

Thanks for the review, Poe. But I'm still upset that you became so popular that you're part of the reason the next movie is delayed! :P Oh well, I'll get over it. :) Built and in person, this set is pretty good. You just have to accept that this is one of those sets that, like most set-piece style Lego sets, swallows up quite a few pieces just to assemble even a small area. The minifigs are a huge draw, particularly if you are not so thrilled with Kylo Ren's shuttle but still want a Kylo Ren minifig, and/or if you're not quite ready to own the TFA Falcon yet - this set + Rey's Speeder set will save you some money.

Yeah, especially with the great packaging, a small series of sets would have looked good on the shelf. But, we don't know the terms of the licensing deal, they may have been allowed to make only one classic TV series Batman set. Still, it would have been nice to see a "stealth" theme of licensed Hollywood automobiles take shape at around the $50 price point (Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters reboot, batmobiles/tumblers/copters, KITT, Spaceballs Winnebago, Mad Max Interceptor, etc.) But don't get me wrong, I am very impressed overall that this set made it to reality.

This looks pretty good. How much do you expect to "save" in terms of pieces? Is it half the piece count of the retail set?

This is so great! My kid would go bonkers over this. If I tell him about this he'll want me to build one with/for him, and then I'll be in trouble!

I was kind of hoping that this year would be the year of double comic-book stores (comic book guy and stuart's), but Simpsons and Big Bang Theory sets never seem to go out of stock, so I'm not sure the demand is all there. But the biggest disappointment of all might be that we never get that "YVAN EHT NIOJ" printed piece.

The Dimensions pack is pretty cool - not only do you get PV with the "new" Bill Murray-like hair and printed arms, but you get a cool Ecto-1 build unique in its own right. This Ecto-1 WILL fit in the firehouse no problem! I started playing the new "level" and it looks like it parallels the movie's story, so far so good. The movie audio transfer is very good, much better than the Jurassic Park audio transfer in the Lego Jurassic World game. The movie music is all there, just like it was in the 2009 Ghostbusters video game. The portal "open world" area lets you drive around NYC, and upon quick inspection has more references to Ghostbusters 2 than you were probably prepared for, but this is a good thing, right? So what does this have to do with 75827? Well, the firehouse in these levels is real-world-built, not brick-built - so the firehouse-as-bricks is not in the game - but all the minifigs are! So, every time I drive around the corner to the firehouse or pass Dana in the hallway of a building it makes me want this set more and more.

I just built the B-model of this set after the instructions were finally made available - WOW!!! Not only does it have its own A-model-worthy gearbox, but it uses up all of the set's panels and all of the set's beams except for one 6L 0.5W beam. And does it sensibly. Stickers are not required for this model to look good, but are not out of place if they have been applied. The model is large and hefty, but the weight balance is good through the model's length. On the ground, the wheels move and steer just as well as the A-model. The hoist arm and rear cargo door are manually operated (which is actually better for playability). And this may not sit well with some, but the front of the model works well if you are still young (or old?) enough to actually play with this model, using minifigs or Friends-style figs or your own action figures to sit in and fly the helicopter. This model was clearly designed to be played with. This is easily one of the best official B-models out there.

Resistance Troop Transporter and Battle of Takodana, with some well-saved VIP points. Battle of Takodana, as with most building and set-piece sets, uses many pieces to build up just a small area, so YMMV. The minifigs are excellent though. I understand what they did with the hidden box, but I wish they had used the bottom of ye olde pirate chest with a new-style flat lid top to make it even more special. Resistance Troop Transporter absolutely nails it, however. The build process is great, with new colored Technic axles, lots of disparate details integrated together, and it is almost as big as the assault carrier and almost half the price. This is one of those sets that follows the trend of increasing the count of small pieces just for constructing details - you may not be into that sort of thing, but I like the results.

Thanks for the review! It would be very cool if there were some "method to the madness" type of part selection whereby models purposely supported certain interchangeable panel colors, wheels vs. tracks, etc. over the course of a year or two. Having these panels in different colors is a good start. I'll have to try the arctic tracks on the customized pickup and see the results.

This set gives me vibes of a bygone set, 8284, for some reason. It's as if the non-farm-equipment models of 8284 and 8274 were repurposed into a single set. I wouldn't be surprised to see a tractor MOC from this set made sometime over the next year. When using power functions, how do you catch up with this set once it has been turned on? Is a crash inevitable?

Great review! I built this the other night, and what was striking was that unlike most Technic models, you don't start with one of the major mechanisms. Instead, you start building the mid-section paneled shell first. As nice as this set looks when finished (even without stickers), one of the drawbacks of an all-clad model is that you don't get a great viewpoint from which to watch the internal mechanisms in action. You can lift up the panel with the red light and peek inside to see the main gearbox and prop rotations, but that's not so very easy to do. This model is good for witnessing an engine overcome friction and achieve smooth operation aided by momentum. (I hope I'm describing this correctly) You notice this when switching to the propeller rotation function and turning on the motor (doesn't matter which direction), you can see the clutch come up to speed before the rest of the mechanism does. Once they are at speed everything moves smoothly. And for an air vehicle, this thing moves and steers very gracefully on the ground. Wonderful action. I'm curious to see how the B-model performs. Parts-wise, this set would have been a great match for the previous generation of Mindstorms (NXT). This is a bit of a niche consideration, but off the top of my head I can see parts from this set being MOC'ed into the transport vehicle from the videogame Xenoblade Chronicles X.

The 42021 Snowmobile was on sale at the Lego store, 20% off, so I picked one up. Nice size for a small set, and rather playable for a set with no gears. And to my surprise, so is the B-model.

The cargo plane (and its B-model) are both very interesting and nicely-sized creations. As an "intro" to gears and motors specifically? Not so much - but as a study in transferrence of motion and routing of power, definitely yes. The closest set currently available in Lego stores and online that is an all-in-one "intro" would be 42008, but 42038 or 42024 plus the 8293 power functions set would also make good intro sets. If you're looking more for a huge bank of parts, it's hard to beat 42009, you just have to be willing to accept the amount of yellow you will get! Unfortunately there is no "creative box" product line with Technic like there is with Lego System, so go with sets that just seem to appeal to you personally. 42025 is certainly the best plane I've seen out of Technic by far.

This is the crux of it right here. When we got 42009 we already had 8258 (motorized outrigger extension and very large Technic model), and 8043 (fully functional and fully rc in one package). But what you don't get with 42009 is the fast response time that the playability of 8421 gives you. Yes in 8421 the pneumatics can't hold up the boom forever or lower the boom smoothly enough, and sure the outriggers are not realistic. But they sure do deploy quickly by turning only one central knob, and the boom raises very quickly as well. This makes a very positive impression, no matter what technology is used to implement the functions. What you achieve in mechanical mastery and full operation of 42009, you give up response time compared to 8421. For some this bargain is not sufficient to own 42009, but at least with 42009 you get a full-on completely different B-model - with 8421 you got only a bucket lift on top of the main A chassis. As for the metal hook - IMO, the metal hook works best on 8460 and its re-issues. On 8421 it is ok but not great, and on 8258 it's not very good. Any weight on the 8258 crane will make the crane flex uncomfortably, and the hook doesn't help in this regard. So for me it is not missed in 42009, and I am still deciding myself whether to own this set.

Panels, when used well, aid in the structural integrity of the model - particularly when they double as the "lines" of a model when viewed from certain angles. Check out the new curved green panels used in 42039 for an example.

My "build rates" average 250 pieces per hour for Technic sets, and 250-400 pieces per hour for System sets, depending on the type and complexity of the build. The 42039 A model took me just under 5 hours to assemble. I often pre-sort and lay out the pieces before assembly, so when I do this it adds to the overall time, but of course I don't mind, and I never feel the need to rush. Whatever your pace is, just enjoy the journey.