Toastie

Absolutely! But since when is the LEGO enthusiast driven by rationalism? Isn't the entire LEGO universe, i.e. what ABS bricks can accomplish or assembled bricks may represent, inherently non-rational? Sure, some folks do earn money with it, live on a very small budget, and so on - that's not what I have in mind though. When you see something in something, and there is a (slim) chance that you can get that dream into reality: Go for it. That is - what I believe - what @Brandon Pea was referring to (but correct me if I am wrong!). I live the 9V dream. And I go for it. Slowly as LEGO budgets are somewhat restricted here. But steadily. From that perspective the answer to the question is: When you want to dream the 9V dream - go for it = YES. It is entirely possible. Best Thorsten

I am 100% with you on this!!! Best Thorsten

Well I don't either - maybe because it is supposed to be a dumb battery box. But yes, totally agree, even a dumb box could have accomplished that - at virtually no additional production cost. Best Thorsten

I can clearly see that. But that does in return mean that the S&H prices reflect the production cost, right? Or what do these prices reflect? And I simply cannot get a grasp on that. $80 for a BLE micro controller with 4 I/O ports in a nice ABS housing with custom ports and "in development firmware" - no. I do not. Do you? Best Thorsten

That makes me feel so much better I'll go with @suffocation and have another beer on these very good news. Best Thorsten

THIS IS JUST A TRY! Could that be a start? Please take intoconsideration that a) I am color-blind b) I used PowerPoint with the color picker thingy to get anywhere close to the colors of the coin that I copied from here (so this needs permission): www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-coin-with-stylized-10. The font I used is freeware (Kansas City Gothic) (For some reason the link does not produce an image here - it's a png - it points to our universities cloud server) Ha! fixed it ... Best Thorsten

Well, I use PowerPoint for such purposes but don't tell anybody. Maybe a PhotoX guru can hopefully take from there - the idea (i.e. >your< coin idea, which I find brilliant!) I mean. Nobody with such skills will ever touch a PowerPoint document for sure ... Best Thorsten

Hmm. This does not entirely make sense, does it? At least business-wise not. Or something else is - at least partly - the reason. I have come to the conclusion that either TLG does not want to sell their electronic devices (regardless of make and type) separately, or they make an insane profit as there are enough people who purchase the stupidly expensive stuff. I sure hope it is the former as the latter would make them look very, very greedy. Here is my reasoning - others may have much more insight into the details, so forgive me if I am totally off. First: In every collaboration we have - with no exceptions - with manufacturers of what some call advanced analytical instrumentation - electronic equipment, once developed, causes only marginal additional material and construction cost. China is your friend. So one could argue that the hardware used in the PuP/Spike/etc devices is soooo expensive - but that is of course nonsense. BLE along with all the hardware used is dead cheap. A BLE equipped microcontroller whatnot clone cost you nothing. And still, some people make money on that. Sure any PuP etc. device may run on super chips, but I doubt that: These are all plain vanilla micro-controller environments. Well then maybe the software engineering is soooo expensive along with the idiot proofing that is required, so e.g. kids don't swallow the Technic hub or new XL motor - or if - it does not do any harm, pops out again and runs as if nothing happened. That sort of thing IS surely expensive. So far so good. Hopefully not so many buy the electronic devices separately (see above, that's what I sure hope). But: Wrapped-up in a box with ABS bricks, the price drops almost by an order of magnitude - otherwise BL price tags are stupid. And BL sellers are all other but stupid. The only reasons I can think of are: 1) ABS bricks cost TLG next to nothing. As they are produced in infinite amounts, even an injection molding machine will pay-off after a while - hundreds of times. And not the entire machine is scraped once worn out. So they have the sooo expensive electronic device, add ABS bricks at virtually no cost for them, print a price tag compensating for everything multiplied by 5 and boom - revenue. Oh yes, the set has to be designed etc. etc. but hey. 2) They produce so many of the individual sets containing electronic device + ABS bricks + instruction booklet that the price comes down for everything so that everything becomes much cheaper. In that case though, I'd rather produce twice as many electronic devices at low price and put them on S&H for a factor of 2 - 3 less. Always slightly above BL tags - just to make sure that "what is expensive at the original manufacturer must be good". But €25 BL vs €80 S&H ??? Hmm. And now what? It all seems to be ... way too expensive on S&H. I hope they simply don't want to sell that stuff separately. That's all. Hopefully. Best Thorsten

I like that one very much. I can do a very first draft as I am no graphics guru. Started already, looks crappy but may be improved? Do you want me to come up with version "-1" ? Best Thorsten

Absolutely, but that was not my point . As @BrickMusher noticed: being stuffed into a "thunder bearing, bush or connector" is different from being stuffed into a "tin can", where is so loud that it reminds you of near thunder. (But you are right: They're not. Whether they are really 4-achsige Preussische Abteilwagen is not entirely clear to me, but they're darn close. Plus: These may be equally thunderesque ) Best Thorsten

Donnerbüchsen, the "ü" adds to the "Donner" a lot ... Best Thorsten

From the link cited above (https://brickset.com/article/51888/the-next-train-is-due-soon), Jamie Berard: "Of course, we love train fans, but we're just trying to make sure that, compared to our other products, trains are bringing in enough people." I believe this says a lot. Naturally. And this issue has been discussed here on EB (almost violently in various fora - uhmm forums) and elsewhere: Yes, trains are cool - and they selected a beauty (maybe appealing more to folks living in Europe and counting more years on the life mileage meter as some others can possibly envision). The point though is: It has to sell. This is the core of Jamie's message. This is the core of a company. This is reality. "We are just trying to make sure" = We need to assure - that it sells. Not only appealing to train fans (well - they love us though!!!). I am >very thankful< that they selected us for releasing this set, which in my opinion could have been any other model that has the potential of "selling well". It is basically what Jamie said. And sure: They do not want us to go away, which may be another thought in the overall calculation. For me, this is one of the most beautiful locomotives (during the years, these "existed" and in memory). But: New further lines of new engines, sheds, etc. etc.? Well. I believe not. However: If this set goes through the roof, sales-wise: Yes, I do. But that's my own take. Best, Thorsten

OK. And do you the other black & white one apart from Zoro? ( Ok, yes, I am color-blind - I am speculating that a) Zoro is in front and b) the other one in the back is ... hmmm ... some brownish white? Man brown - what a color: It can go from red to green and gray ... certainly black when it is dark-brown) Fantastic layout - it must have been an enormous amount of work. Some of my airborne stuff is also hooked up the the ceilings with this barely visible Nylon yarn. That alone took me hours adn hours ... All the best and enjoy your summer break! Thorsten

Well I guess I need more time to elaborate a bit on what you and others said here - no time now. Just that: Seriously teaching automation, independent operation, distribution of intelligence throughout a complex system (lets make that an atmospheric pressure laser ionization mass spectrometer, which is what I use to teach such things) and so and and so on - with >all< the bells and whistles the new LEGO line of devices provides, is certainly, most certainly not done with children 7 years old. I talk about students 18+(+) years old. Students in a chemistry curriculum not addicted to programming - they are addicted to find solutions and get things up and running. In the past I was taking the RCX/NXT route to introduce that kind of thinking to chemistry students. I don't share the notion of the complexity of numerous sensors available in that particular system, even when taking into consideration HiTechnic etc lines of sensors. These things a serious. And well documented. Not in lessons - nobody at that level wants lessons. Believe me, these folks can read manuals. As they can cope with complexity, as Chemistry (to many at least) is "complex". There is one thing in Chemistry though, that came with the modern world: When you say "1,2-dinitro-1-butene" every chemistry students in the 2nd semester can draw that thing up. Further thinking about it - maybe not. There are certainly other chemistry folks around here. With "complexity" I never meant the system - I meant the - forgive me - all the way stupid approach of giving names. The system-less way. The buzz-word approach. I'd challenge the notion of 9V was equally complex, everything is complex in some way. Complexity loses "level", when proper nomenclature is invoked. That was all I meant. Plus: I am not entirely alone. There are other not-7-years-old people as well as no-programming-guru people as well. Which means of course nothing. I just was my >personal< take. Have all a nice WE, Thorsten

Wow. I thought LEGO was a toy - and all that Mindstorms stuff to get kids into programming etc. Just browsing through the last 5 pages here ... reads like we are planning on going to the Alpha Centauri system soon using all-LEGO equipment, but we have a) to figure out what the names mean and b) to figure out what the stuff actually does. Plus: The total confusion TLG is creating at increasing speed and width maybe fun to some, but the result is - discouraging. The folks I work with on implementing LEGO platforms for getting into programming and automation do now look for something else. For something that has reliable documentation for the devices and programs nowadays called apps. Honestly? I can see that. Clearly. It truly is a confusing world. Simply just causing more confusion by cranking out basically undocumented hard- and software is not helping at all to cope with the confusion in the world. Once upon a time, there was a manual that came along with a piece of hardware or software. I sure know that these days are gone - for long. But how on earth do we >teach< this way? In the same confusing way? Oh well, back to RCX's or even NXT's. They can accomplish a lot. Particularly with regard to the teaching aspect. Best Thorsten

Wonderful! It is so nice to see electronics generations coming together - as the bricks ever did - and do. Also, 4.5V as well as the 12V generation seamlessly integrate into this family. 12V is no problem for PF - as 4.5V is not. It is so cool to run a 4.5V train off from PF hardware. IMHO PF is the ultimate control hardware for "dumb" LEGO devices, whereas the PoweredUp line is the most powerful environment for smart devices. Best Thorsten

Well Jim - how about "oversee" it? I believe testing all this cool stuff is already happening: The folks do. It is simply close to impossible to do it all on your own. Same thing here: My group does so many things in the several labs we have (in contrast to: As it was in the olden days, when I was right in the middle and did it all "myself" - as part of the group) - I simply lost it. Well not really: I oversee it ... this is what I am telling myself. Wow. Old people bragging I guess. All the very best! Thorsten

I wonder what happens, when you're not? This is a true "miracle" engine! So few peaces, so full of beauty. Thanks for sharing! All the best Thorsten

That is so true. You know, the now "not in stock anymore" wall wart, the stupid 10V DC charger, they sold for €29,99 ... I find this one particularly irritating. Yes, TLG has to do all the math and all the construction. But yes, they let them make these El Cheapos in China. And sell them for - my take - an unmoral price. Now we have the motors. Yes, it takes a long run in making it all happen. The hubs talking to the motors, the app, controlling it all. I can see that. But honestly? How many software freaks do you need to figure out proportional control? Or rotation counting? Man, this stuff has been out there for ages. TLG is trying to catch up, where Arduinos, PICs, and what not have been for such a long time. And they seriously charge for that. I wonder how long this will continue to be a business case. Best Thorsten

Same here! Actually in contrast: I like the text as is very much as it adds (for me) some "dynamics". With regard to color schemes: My, you guys are professionals. I am in the professional league of color blinds (yes: center forward!). To me it looks really nice as it is (And yes, I do have such a T-Shirt: https://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/megabluck-the-colorblind/. And no I don't see anything other than bubbles within bubbles of weird indifferent colors) Again: Very nice job, @Duq and @Jim! Best regards, Thorsten

You are ingenious. This is one of the coolest MOCs I have seen in years. Thanks for sharing, Dr. Spock! Best regards, Thorsten

Gentlemen, tipping hat, slight nod. Wonderful. Regards, Thorsten

Unfortunately not all four are around this world anymore ... Applies also to the Technic Forum ...

What are you seeing then? The EB banner? Best Thorsten

I believe some tuning of the Invision forum software is going on; well actually, I hope that this is the case. When I use the link used since I joined EB about a decade ago, it welcomes me with "Dragons Den" instead of "EB: Uniting ..." etc. Nothing wrong with dragons. Could be that my laptop was hacked - but - I really don't like it. Is it just me? Best Thorsten