andythenorth

Not available in the uk any more at a sensible price:( My kids would have liked this one. EDIT: found one used on amazon for £70. :) Hope they like it...

8043 is great, both for A and B models. Fun to build, really playable. 42009 is just another crane, turned up to 11. :)

+ lots. Changing the system too frequently is boring Can't see battery boxes getting smaller without going to expensive LiPo or something. 9V batteries can run lights, but they don't last for motors. For conventional NiMh or Alkaline batteries, I think volume = longer run time is a fair rule of thumb?

Those buildings have no backs. So lame, I wish TLG would stop this new trend of unfinished buildings. This new set will never be popular with AFOLs. The buildings are nothing more than a collection of large doors and windows. The roof of one of them is practically a single-piece moulding. Lame lame lame. I won't be buying any more Lego if this is the direction it's taking. Totally devalues my collection.

(Long time since I studied electronics and even then wasn't very good at it...) Could a flash unit adapt voltage so it runs from 1.5v? This would permit the use of a single AAA or AA battery as power source. I figure that the LEDs, ICs etc will have to reduce anyway from the ~7.2v or ~9v on the PF bus, so might be possible to work with lower voltages?

Off-topic, "there's a prototype for everything" http://www.flickr.co...tes/5670716055/ (Unit on the left is a grader built on a scraper frame).

Dunno what that B model is, might be a grader, might be a scraper, definitely looks ugly from that box shot :) Scraper = scraper, can, pan, or buggy. Scraper probably the most common term, it's what Cat use. http://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/wheel-tractor-scrapers.html

Ha ha, love the guy planting trees on the truck box. 'Logging' came up here a few years ago as a theme idea. Some EB members thought Lego wouldn't want to be associated with possible negative perceptions around logging (despite that they have Octan everywhere, and that logging isn't always environmentally bad) Looks like Lego have decided to promote sustainable forestry Nostalgia is lame, but I wish the airport truck had light and sound. I loved light and sound as a kid. I think my kids would love it too. With modern LED components light and sound could run from a single AAA battery (not the expensive mini-cells used in the Duplo light and sound brick), and fit easily in City vehicles.

Just do without the brackets. You would be better modding the set to use linear actuators anyway - the mechanism for lowering and raising the blade is the biggest weak point of the model - the clutch gear wears out and won't hold the blade in place, and it can't be swapped for a non-clutch gear. It's a great toy, noisy, responsive, fast and fun. Other weak points: - it will throw tracks off the bottom rollers frequently, this can then drag the drive sprocket off the axle - it often pulls to one side, I never figured out why, could be different motor speeds. Some people think it's because one motor drives the 6 cylinder engine, and so has more friction to fight. - the ripper is lame. I swapped it for a motorised rear winch for more climbing power - the side plates on the blade fall off a lot But who cares, it's a classic toy If you can be bothered, it's also fun to light

Looks fun Liked the bit of the video where the can rolled away

So new blue trains coming? That train base part usually gets reused in multiple sets in similar colours.

I have half the world's remaining Power Puller wheels in a box, waiting to build one of the big Rolligons :)

Agreed. I actually kind of like the people posting 'I've just seen the new City / Train / Castle / Technic omg my life is over, Lego are out of business' stuff. Gives me something to troll...good internets need a bit of drama. +1 (seriously) Meanwhile, once a year I get to watch grown men get in a severe tizz about plastic construction toys, as they suffer the annual surprise of 'once again, Lego is sticking to roughly the same themes it has pursued since the mid 1970s'. Never boring.

http://www.brickset....ail/?Set=6390-1 I know and it's absolutely disgusting. Where is the imagination? I mean, the 2014 themes are pretty much just the same as the 1979 line up. Police, fire, street maintenance, breakdown truck, a truck with a crane on, where's the imagination? This year's police station is basically just a repeat of this one, what am I supposed to do, buy another? And there were two police helicopters that year, I mean how many do I need? It's as if Lego have forgotten about their fans. Another thing, I heard there will be new houses, but I hope they're not a repeat of this one, useless, there's simply no back to it, and it only uses a tiny baseplate, not like classic sets. I bought it anyway, and I really don't need another, but I really don't like the direction Lego took with that one, and frankly it makes me worried for the future of my collection. Lego also should listen to my opinion on this year's Town Square. I mean I was so pumped when I heard about this set, it really got my juices going. But then when I saw the box in TrU, it's just a lame repeat of Main Street, which I already have in my collection. Absolutely gutted. I mean, Lego seem to have no freaking idea what my needs are or how to run a serious toy company. But to be reasonable, I understand Lego want to sell to kids as well as AFOLs. But the thing that really has me angry now is this trend to dumbing down. You know what I mean. Large, easy to assemble pieces, everything really simple. You can build it just from the picture on the box, there's no detail and no complicated building methods. Basically today's models suck, compared with classics like Mini Loader, Rally Car and Motorbike, or my all-time favourite, Ambulance. That Rally Car and Motorbike is really something: it has SNOT, and NPU (look at the minifig legs on backwards - that's true innovation), and there's hardly a sticker to be seen. The problem is almost certainly that kids today have no attention spans. I blame the current obsession with video games. So in short I'm really disappointed by this year's line-up, but I'll probably grab them all anyway.

Granted, but equally might have you picked the wrong toy brand to collect? Anyway, maybe we can agree that "don't feed the troll" remains good advice? Check the links I posted.

Awesome truck

Yair, so son #1 (3-and-a-half) just saw the police sets image on my screen, and immediately said "we need all of those". He doesn't need any of them - he has Lego City coming out of his ears - but he certainly wants them. I asked him, if he could only have one, which one it would be. He said the big helicopter. We already have entire fleets of fire, police and coastguard choppers, but nvm. Lego know their audience. Not their whiney obsessive AFOL weirdo audience of course. The actual kids who like play and toys, not grown men losing their stuff over which construction toys they get to buy this season. So anyway, yeah, umm we'll probably get the helicopter, maybe the police station too.

Yair, I do think Lego have screwed this up, what with all these reissues of sets from a few years ago. It's pretty disgusting, and shows that Lego is a shadow of its former self. For example, look at the innovation we got in the 80s and early 90s: 1985 Shovel Truck: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6603-1 1988 Tractor: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6504-1 1990 Mini Loader: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=1633-1 You just don't see that kind of innovation any more. Now Lego just keep expecting us to buy the same old sets, with only minor colour differences. For those who have read past the trolling, the Tow Truck is a nice echo of http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=1572-1

You don't need any of this crap. You have the absolute epitome of a first world problem here.

Yeah, I count at least 17 of these skip trucks on Brickset in the last 5 years. http://www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?Page=2&theme=Technic&subtheme=%7bNone%7d I'm so bored of these skip trucks. I have 12 of them, I didn't want the other 5. Lego have lost all their creativity. Seriously I won't be buying any Technic in future. What I really want is a big crane. If Lego understood their true adult Technic fans they would produce a serious model of a big crane. There haven't been any big cranes since at least 1977.

Looks like a nice toy. Think my kids (aged 4, 2) will like this one.

I junked 8421 years ago, and 8070 is ripped apart for the transmission parts.

Also none of the models have the correct number of rivets, I have counted them. I certainly will be buying less Lego Technic in future.

Boring boring boring.

I like this a lot. Voted on Cuusoo. Soldering LEDs is fun, but not very Lego-like. I've done it.