howitzer

Discontinued, really? I mean, it hasn't been used in sets for a few years but it's so incredibly useful part that discontinuing would be really strange. Of course with the linear clutch there's an alternative but as you say, they are not interchangeable.

Yes, it could be used but those micromotors are quite hard to come by these days.

Makes me think of the new Space Shuttle set (10283).

Another thought related to the above calculations: I wonder how many parts are unique only in the sense that they have a sticker or print? Also, there's over 10000 unique parts among those 144 sets but if one would remove small aesthetic details with no functional value or large effect on the looks of the set, I wonder how many parts one would save? Hard to estimate though, as this one is really fuzzy and opinion-based... Still, I'm sure you could get the most of the enjoyment out of every set with much fewer parts than this.

Would be interesting to know the numbers excluding black 2L blue 3L friction pins as those are the most common Technic parts by a wide margin.

This is so cool! Looking forward to see it in action.

Kinda true but those stupid tracks instead of proper wheels...

Container yard seems cool but I haven't examined it in detail. 42061 is quite a small set and I'm generally not very interested in smaller sets so while it's fine in itself, it won't make or break the year's lineup. I mentioned Ocean explorer mainly because it's on the larger end while being in a category that doesn't receive nearly enough love from TLG. But yeah, it's not that great set, which makes 2017 seem even duller year.

Dunno, depends a lot on what kinds of sets we're getting. GWPs, books and such are nice but I'd take proper, highly functional "normal" sets any day over them. Right now it seems that we're not getting much of either though... Dunno, 2014 had a couple of nice sets like the Volvo and the Cargo plane. Even the construction crew was kinda fun set with lots of play value. The best thing about 2017 was probably the Ocean explorer, as watercraft are always nice to see in Technic but other than that it doesn't have much going on for it.

Somehow all the sets in 2017 were totally forgettable, both 2016 and 2018 had more interesting sets, and 2015/2019 too. I'd consider 2017 the low point of 2010's and while 2020's hasn't been that great either, I think so far we're still ahead of 2017. Your mileage may vary of course. I wouldn't even compare Technic to other themes, it's very much different from System-based building. In the early days they were closer (Technic was basically System builds with some functions to make parts move) but from the late 90's and especially since the full transition to studless construction it has been quite different. Apples to oranges comparison, rather than System-based themes where you can closely compare parts usage, building techniques etc. That being said, I of course agree completely, Technic is hands down the best theme of Lego

Yes, I thought it would be something like this.

Wow, that's a lot of examples on your gallery, though many appear to be variants of a few arrangements. Did you use some kind of algorithm to find all these?

It wouldn't be hard to make such a mould from aluminium for example, but of course you'd need the right tools for that, which I don't think many people have.

No 3x19 frames or new gears available here either.

The hoop originally from Friends sets is now available in DBG: