mostlytechnic

And I love the cover image you used on the FP - I have this set on my desk at work as my pen holder. Fun set :)

You're correct. The stickers are NOT clear-backed. The only way to use the Ferrari logos on an all-red car would be to carefully cut the white off from around the badge. I think my gripe is that is tried to appeal to both groups and so doesn't quite hit either one. For display, they could have left out the suspension and engine, making a pure show set. That would have allowed a better designed model, since a lot of internal space and part budget would have been freed up. They could have made it more rigid and filled in a few of the gaps. For the Technic folks, they could have simplified the cosmetics and made it more feature-filled - or bumped it up to Lambo scale and price. My assumption is their target market (and heck, probably this is what their experience and market research shows - certainly the people on a Lego fan forum aren't the majority of their customers) wants something to look nice and when a guest comments, they can push it around, show the working suspension and engine, and most people would be pretty darn impressed by that. I know a couple Ferrari fans at my work and I plan to show the car to them, and they'll be suitably impressed by it as it stands.

I LOVE the look of this set. Can't wait to hear if it's good to drive.

Technic Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse #51 Thanks to Lego and EB for this review set. EB has a team of reviewers working on all the new Technic sets, so keep your eyes out for a bunch of reviews in December! Lego has produced a number of Ferrari cars and sets... around 50 of them over the last 20+ years. All but a couple are red (no surprise there) and many of them are race cars. In fact, almost all of them are under the Racers sub-theme, even though there's a mix of system and Technic builds. 1997 had a Shell-sponsored race car. In 2004 even Duplo got in on the Ferrari race action. 2005 brought the 1:10 scale Enzo. It was labeled Racers on the box, even though it's clearly a Technic vehicle. 2006 had another Racers-labeled Technic set, this time a 1:8 scale F1 race car. 2007 continued the pattern, but went back to the street vehicles for a 599 GTB. 2007 didn't ignore the Ferrari racing teams though, releasing a system-style F1 Team set. The 20-teens brought a range of Ferraris under the Speed Champions banner. And then 2021 brings the largest set by piece count, and the only one ever officially branded as Technic, the 488 GTE race car. Name: Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse #51 Set Number: 42125 Pieces: 1677 Price: $169.99 Minifigs: 0 Theme: Technic The Box Front It's clear that Lego expects this set to be an AFOL display piece. It has the Creator Expert-style mostly black box, an 18+ age suggestion, and a very classy look. The Box Back The back continues the simple design, with a (fitting) rear shot of the car and a couple photos of the real race car. Oddly, the specs box gives the car's numbers in American-style horsepower and mph, but lists the 0-62 mph time as European-style 3 comma 0 seconds rather than 3.0. The Box Top As typical for Technic cars, the 1:1 shot on the top is one of the wheels. But why did they pick such an unflattering angle of the car to use here? So many blue pins in sight, and it's just not one of the better angles with the red-black and black-white color-transition stickers on the panels. The Real Vehicle Inside the manual, there's several pages about the Ferrari racing team and the car. There's also this head to head comparison shot. It's a pretty good Lego rendition, but at least from this angle, the fenders don't go out enough. There's also too much blue - maybe a stickered panel on each side would be better? The Stickers Oh my, so many stickers. SO many stickers. SIXTY TWO stickers. They do at least come, with the manual, in a cardboard sleeve, so they arrived in great condition. And these two sheets are LARGE. The curl you see here happened from letting them sit out overnight before I did the photos. It didn't affect the stickers at all; they all applied just fine. The New Parts There are quite a few new parts in this set, either new molds or new colors. There's also a couple very rare parts returning to production. Moving around the group here: Red fender extensions, 2. These fit into the existing wheel arches to extend them outward. They only have two pin connections on them, one at each end. Triangular panels, 1 of each. New in red. 3x11 Panel. Just 1. New in blue. Rotor blades, 2. New in black. These are clearly helicopter blades, but they've only appeared so far in Lime in the Lambo Sian set. Frame, 11x15. Just 1. New in black. 1x7 liftarm, thin. Includes 2. This hasn't been produced in red since 2007, so they are currently $5-10 each on Bricklink. 2x3 curved panel. 2, white. This is a new mold for 2021 and I'd expect to see it in numerous sets. Printed headlights, 1 of each. This is an existing windshield part, but the large headlight print is new. 2x2 round brick, 2 in trans red. This is another part that hasn't been made since 2007. It was only ever in 2 sets, both Technic/Racers Ferrari sets. It's fitting to bring it back again for Ferrari tail lights, and this will hopefully bring the price down from it's $5-10 range. Technic pin with pin hole, 8 in red. Despite this common part being in over 200 sets, it's never been produced in red until now. 2x3 curved liftarm, thick. 2 in black. This is a new mold. It fits perfectly with several of the curved Technic panels, essentially extending them another stud. The Build, Part 1 The bags are numbered 1 through 5. The number 1 bags produce this - the V8 engine and rear suspension, along with some frame for the middle of the car. There is a differential between the rear wheels, connected to the V8, so like many Technic vehicles, the pistons move as the car rolls. However, there is no gearbox or other complications. It's just a direct connection via a stack of gears. The Build, Part 2 Bags #2 add a ton of size to the car. There's a few studs to add at the rear still, but the overall size is pretty much done now. The steering wheel is functional, but be careful. When you add the steering wheel, check if it's straight when the front wheels are straight. If not, you can pull one of the 16 tooth gears off, align them, and put the gear back on. If you don't catch it now, you'll have to disassemble a lot of car to fix it later. The manual doesn't point this out, so I'm giving you the warning. The Build, Part 3 This set of bags puts the front of the car on. You'll notice a distinct lack of stickers... there was a lot of discussion in the forums here about how the car would look without, and even some nice Photoshoppery, but I wanted to see it for real. So I built the car with no race stickers on it, photographed it naked, and then I added the stickers later. The only stickers I put on during the build were neutral ones (like Ferrari logos) and the interior. You can see here some gaps in the front end. Some of these are deliberate - the ones in the middle of the hood are for airflow in the real car. However, the other parts below are too visible. A black panel underneath would have helped. I also don't like the gaps above the wheels where the triangular panels don't cover behind the headlights. That's part of building a Technic car though.... The Interior Before closing up the car, here's a shot of the dashboard. There aren't too many stickers here, but they do add a lot to the look. The seat is pretty minimal though. The Build, Part 4 The #4 bags put the rear on the car. Without stickers, the blue and yellow looks pretty out of place. If I was planning to keep the car stickerless, I'd definitely replace those with red parts. I'd also have to debate whether I wanted a white stripe down the center or not. The Build, Finished The last set of bags obviously complete the car. Here's a set of photos from different sides, showing the naked car. If you want a non-race version of the car, clearly you'll need a few red parts to replace the blue and yellow around the car. The black aerodynamic bits (the front splitter, rear diffuser, rear wing) and white stripe still look pretty racecar though. And to me, without stickers, the doors look odd. The gap behind the doors and the upward slope combine to make the car look bent when viewed from the side. Enough of that. Time to take a few panels off for easier stickering, add the rest of the 60-odd stickers, and see how it's designed to look. The Stickered Car With stickers, some of the color choices make much more sense. The incredible busyness of the stickers, I think, makes the car look much better. It hides the Technic-ness of the build and makes it look more finished. The gaps and odd shapes here and there are less noticeable. It's also a great engine compartment in my opinion - it's amazing how much a couple crossed tubes and a couple of flat silver elbows make it look so much more accurate. The Underside Since I know people would want to see it, here's underneath the car. This does not look very Technic. There's HUGE empty spaces where most Technic sets would have gearboxes and functions. Clearly, this is a shelf model, not a play set. The Comparison Here's the Ferrari next to the other 2021 set I reviewed, the Jeep Wrangler. As you'd expect from a 3x price difference, there's a massive difference in size. There's also a massive difference in sticker count, but not a massive difference in functions The Other Comparison The most logical comparison car would be 2019's 42096 Porsche 911 RSR, but I don't own that set. Digging a little further back, 2015 had the 42039 "24 Hour Race Car" with its generic stickers and non-licensed anything. They're very similar in size, despite the Ferrari having 400 more pieces. It's obvious the extra parts went into giving the Ferrari more, smaller panels and more complex shaping. The 24 Hour car had several functions (a gearbox to switch between a knob opening the doors or opening the hood, and optionally could have those functions motorized, plus more interesting suspension) but lacked the functional steering wheel. Given the similar size and the fact that both do have significant stickering, I don't think average people would think twice if they saw these cars together on a shelf. The Suspension Personally, I think the car sits too high. There's room to fit a full liftarm on top of the wheels, and the ground clearance is a brick and 2 plates. That seems like a lot for a serious racecar like this. That's to give the suspension room to move though - there is full independent suspension. When compressed, it looks like this: I think that looks better, and I'm tempted to sacrifice the functional suspension (or at least some of its range of movement) to have the car sit lower. The Issues There's a few areas of the car I think could be better that I haven't mentioned yet. First, there's this gap over the rear wheels. On the front wheels, flex axles are used to match the curve of the wheel arch. Here, they used rigid connectors and left a gap. There's a build reason for that - the long rod of connectors is only half-inserted in the back for a while, then when the rear wing area is added, it's pushed back to lock things together - but it doesn't look great. You can also see in this picture the worst sticker offense IMHO. The black and white sticker on a red panel... on the real car, there is a white section of the rear pillar. They were trying to represent that, splitting the panel visually into the pillar and the black of the back window area. However, it does not work. Being on a red panel is a big part of the problem - since you can see the red all the way around the sticker, it ruins the desired illusion. This would have been better as a black panel with the sticker. The crookedness is my fault, from how I built the set, but even so, I think the black rectangle stickers there are dumb. Since I'd already build the car without them, I could not get them on straight. They're supposed to make that section of the panels "disappear" but since you can still see red all the way around, it just doesn't work. I'm really tempted to remove them. That said, the other stickers were not nearly as hard to get aligned right as I feared. Since there's gaps between the pieces on the front end, slight misalignments aren't obvious. At the back is a different story. These stickers are impossible to get aligned correctly without being able to try a bunch of times. Since the sticker goes to the end of the beam, it's hard to judge precisely how it's positioned in the middle. I'm thinking here about just removing the sticker from the 7 stud arm. I am not a fan of this roof design. I don't like having the white beams under the curved panels, plus stickers, to make the white stripe. It creates a groove down the middle of the roof that shouldn't be there. It would take a bit of redesign, but it would look better with a 2 stud wider roof so that the center could be a curved panel in white. There's gaps on the side anyway, so just widen the roof, take the curved red axles straight back, and push the white/black stickered panels out a stud (or replace them with a different panel). The Ratings Design: 8 Build Experience: 8 Features: 2 Playability: 3 Parts/Value: 7 Overall: 8 or 5. I split my final score because it depends on who you are. Despite the Technic branding on this set, it doesn't feel Technic. There's very minimal function - just the steering wheel, suspension, engine, and opening doors (the S@H listing says there's an opening hood, but there's not). In fact, there's not even standard "hand of God" steering via a knob on the roof or back. The ONLY way to steer is via the steering wheel, which makes it difficult to push around. There's a lot of wasted internal space, and the space that IS filled is complex connections to get panels connected at the right angles to form the body. If you're looking for a Technic vehicle, there are much more interesting models out there - I can't help but think of set 8297, the Technic Off-Roader that was my exit from my dark ages. It was slightly smaller, but had all the functions of this car, plus motorized winch, motorized ride height adjustment, a gearbox to switch between functions, soft-opening doors, etc. For the Technic enthusiast, this would only rate a 5, and that mostly as a part pack for red panels. This is not a car for Technic people the way the Lambo, Chiron, or other cars are. Those two are of course much more expensive as well. This set is CLEARLY intended for people looking for a decoration. It fills that role well, hence the score of 8. If you want a large, impressive looking car to have on a desk or shelf, this is a great model. This is the car equivalent of the Ideas Piano or the Lunar Lander. They've got a bit of functionality to show to people, but mostly, they sit there and look cool. There's nothing wrong with that, but it makes me question the Technic branding on this set. Honestly, Lego had it right with the older sets being Racers branded. This might almost be better branded as a "UCS" Speed Champions set. I think it would be better understood that way. The flaws in the set are all rather minor - there are cosmetic things I'd do differently, but nothing that's unmodable. This set also hits its 18+ age mark better than most. The instructions are clear, but not as hand-holding as most modern Technic manuals. For example, if you're building a subassembly and need to turn it around, that will be indicated as usual. However, if the whole car needs turned around, they don't mark that. It's expected that you can see and follow the picture without calling it out. There's quite a few times where you attach things that aren't shown clearly, but when you look at where it's going, there's only one way to do it. Nothing was overly difficult, but it was definitely a bit more challenging of a build. I enjoyed building the set, and I'll enjoy having it in my collection. I might have to pick up a few other cars to go with it, but hope it doesn't get too jealous of their features

Nice catch - they used the same image for both the black 1x4 and 1x5 thin beams. Oops!

Just keep in mind, you'll have to cut your hose into 2 stud long bits. You can't put the hose all the way through the panel and out the other side. The center axle hole, turned the other way, prevents it.

With the steering angle being so minimal, there's no need (IMHO) for fine control of the steering that you might get with a larger knob.

I don't think it's particularly ugly, but I also don't think it's a great match to the real vehicle. The headlights are protruding instead of recessed. There's no winch on the real Jeep. The bumper looks quite different (and hard to replicate in Lego). And the grill, while accurate, I would have preferred to be built instead of printed. I'm sure that was a demand of the Jeep marketing team though. The grill is too iconic to compromise on. So as a Lego set, I think it's fine, but it's better when there's not a picture of the real thing to compare to

That's reasonable, but I also don't think any of them are going to be rare. The tires are also in a city tractor set. The 3x7 panels will be all over the new sets (in a range of colors). I'm sure the curved 1x2x3 panels will be too. It's a decent random Technic parts pack (assorted beams, pins, etc) but low on axles/gears, and it's worse value (in a price per part measurement) than the new McLaren will be (similar size set), so I didn't rate it higher.

Technic Jeep Wrangler Thanks to Lego and EB for this review set. EB has a team of reviewers working on all the new Technic sets, so keep your eyes out for a bunch of reviews in December! Over the years, Lego has produced quite a few sets called "Jeep." Among others, there was the 1968 Jeep: 1977 had a Jeep CJ-5: There was the 1997 "Open Top Jeep" that no one would say looks like a Jeep: 2010 brought a couple of green Jeeps in the Toy Story line. Now, in 2021, we have a MUCH larger Technic licensed Jeep model. The official announcement said "Designed to emulate the iconic look, design and legendary off-road capabilities of the actual vehicle, this first-ever LEGO model of a Jeep SUV – the LEGO Technic Jeep Wrangler is ready to face any epic adventure." That makes me believe the previous sets weren't licensed Jeeps. They were just using the term generically. The CJ-5 set is the only one that I can find that actually says "Jeep" on the box or manual. Name: Jeep Wrangler Set Number: 42122 Pieces: 665 Price: $49.99 (US) / €49.99 Minifigs: 0 Theme: Technic The Box Front It's... a Jeep. Clearly. With the set name, the logo in the corner, and the stickered Jeep and Rubicon logos on the vehicle, it's pretty clear this is a licensed Technic vehicle. It's a great box design though - it looks like something from a Jeep advertisement with the rocks and mountains and trees. It also hints at the functionality, since you can see the winch and the axle articulation. Unsurprisingly, they put quite a bit of thought and time into the box art. The Box Back It's a pretty standard Technic box back. Show another angle of the set, show the functions, and have a plain background. Here though we get a box with a small photo and stats of the real vehicle and a cute design twist with the winch pulling at another photo. Interesting that even though this is the European box, it still gives the stats in horsepower and pounds. No metric for Jeep I guess The Box Top The top of the box has the same stats (minus horsepower for some reason), but this time in a variety of languages and units. The Contents Just 5 bags (split into two groups), some tires, a manual, and small sticker sheet. The Prints There are only a couple printed parts - 2 of the 3x5 L liftarm and 5 of the 1x3 liftarm, all with the same print for making the trademark Jeep grill. I get why they'd want to make it that way, but I'd prefer they'd done it with thin liftarms and other parts to be actually three-dimensional. The New Panels This set includes a few new for 2021 Technic panels. There's the 3x7 panel (includes 3 in yellow and 1 in black) and 3 of the small 2x3 panel. I have no idea what the Bricklink naming will be for that panel, since it only has connectors along one edge, it's curved so that the other edge doesn't line up with anything, and the 3 connections it does have are all axle holes in 2 directions. The set also includes 5 new tires. It's a 56x26 tire with a tractor tread pattern. They're VERY offroad tires, not really a passenger vehicle tread, but they get the idea across. The Real Vehicle There's no Ideas-style intro section to the manual, but at the end, there's a single page of pictures of the real Jeep. The Contents Here's everything included in the set. The Build, Part 1 Like many Technic sets, we start by building the core of the vehicle. The steering system is partially in place, and we have the small turntables front and back (behind the seats) that will allow the axles to move. The Evil Stickers It's partially due to my large fingers (I'm 6'3", 275 lbs), but these seat stickers are possibly the worst stickers I've ever had to apply. They're on an inside curve, with the connection points making it even harder to reach. I probably should have gotten out tweezers to put them in place but I didn't. I totally get that the marketers at Jeep would want the cool seat stitching as part of the set, but what a pain to apply. The Build, Part 2 This is the end of the #1 bags. There's a lot of bodywork still to go on, but the core of the vehicle is done. There's functional steering, suspension, and a winch. The Front Detail Before we move on, here's a closeup of the front of the Jeep. The grill is in place. The headlights are there (although in front instead of properly recessed). I don't like the grey connectors at the top corners of the front end though. They've never made them in yellow, but even black would have been better IMHO. Also, the winch. Why? I can't find any reference on the Jeep website to a factory winch being even an option on the Wrangler Rubicon. I guess Lego wanted another function, but it's such a pain to do. Again, I've got big fingers, and I HATE anything using string from Lego. Getting the knots tied in the tiny string is a pain. That's honestly the one thing in the build that a kid would likely need help with. And it's not even a cool function here! You just turn the gear next to the reel with your finger to wind it back in. There's no mechanism involved. The Steering The steering mechanism is simple but effective. No gears involved. The Suspension There are two shocks in the rear, attached to pivoting liftarms. This doesn't allow for typical vertical suspension travel. Instead, this vehicle has pendular axles that can rotate side to side. The shocks keep the Jeep level unless it's being pressed to the side. The Angles The Lego designers worked to make some unique angles on this set. There are grey beams here through the engine compartment, whose sole purpose is to make the front grill lean slightly back instead of being vertical. There's another set of unusual connections done to give the "windshield" the slight angle they wanted. It's some interesting complexity in an otherwise pretty blocky model. The Build, Finished The #2 bags basically just put a body on the vehicle. There are some interesting design choices and a few things that make me wonder why they did it that way. The model includes a roof rack, which is not standard equipment. There is an option for one, but I haven't found a good picture of it yet. Look at the base of the windshield - why are those perpendicular connectors light grey? Why not black? Ditto for the ones in the roof rack. I know we're never going to convince Lego to give up on the blue pins, but why oh why are all the 3L pins with stop bush ORANGE in this set? Use the grey ones! No kids are going to get confused; there's no other grey 3L pins in the set. The Comparison Does this set really look like a Jeep? If it didn't have the stickers, and you showed it to a random person, would they think Jeep? Personally, I'd think Hummer before Jeep. It's not a BAD representation of a Wrangler, especially given the scale, but that scale made it lose most of the things that distinguish it from the boxier Hummer. The sides of the hood (where the Rubicon name is) aren't curved. The front end doesn't taper in to be narrower at the front. The roof feels too low (and I checked it - to be accurate to scale, the roof should be 1.5 studs higher than it is). The Side View There's one function that isn't mentioned in the manual at all, but works fine. The back seat folds down if you want to have cargo space in the rear. Super simple, but super effective. There is a surprising issue visible from the side though. The doors do not go all the way down! There's a full stud of space between the bottom of the door and the black base of the Jeep. There's not an easy fix though. It needs a 6L liftarm, which Lego doesn't make. The easiest fix would be using a pair of the 1x6 thin liftarms on each door. Once upon a time, that would have cost a fortune, since the Power Puller in 2000 was the only set to include that part in yellow until it came back into a bunch of sets starting in 2014. Now they're just a dime each. The Underside From the bottom, there's some definite color issues. The red and blue liftarms aren't hugely noticeable from the top, but they're in full view underneath. This also shows the simplicity of the functions - there's no differentials, no "engine," no axles running the length of the vehicle for some feature. The Axles The pendular axles are designed to make this model very "off-road" feeling. The front axle can twist enough to sit on the spare tire while the vehicle stays flat. If you do that in the rear, the Jeep sits at an angle, but still, all 4 wheels are on the ground. The Steering This set uses a simple gear in the back seat area for hand-of-God steering. It works well enough, except it barely turns. The front wheels here are at full steering lock. This small toy feels like it has the same turning radius as the real thing! The Ratings Design: 6 Build Experience: 6 Features: 4 Playability: 7 Parts/Value: 6 Overall: 6. You have to keep in mind though, what is the target audience? I was pretty critical in the sections above, because I was looking at it from the perspective of an adult. This is not meant to compete with the Lambo and Bugatti as a shelf decoration. It's a much smaller set, for a younger owner. This set is a toy, first and foremost. It's ruggedly built. I tried dropping it, rolling it over, and being rough with it. Nothing fell off. This set is ready for kids to take it outside, drive it through the dirt, and treat it like a toy. On a pile of rocks, it's right at home. To me, it doesn't have the features to be a fun Technic model nor the looks to be a visual model. For a kid, it's fantastic as a toy.

Wow, that's fantastic! I love how it looks so simple - in a good way. There not a ton of greebling, so the architecture itself is what stands out. Love the flowers on the wall detail too - I can picture the real-world version and it's such a good replica.

The black piece on the left is a boat keel: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=x149&colorID=11&in=A And the grey piece with green windows only came in one set: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6940-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

Great review! I think this set will sell like hotcakes - it's such an instantly recognizable vehicle, well replicated into Lego, and it makes a great desk/shelf decoration. It's so much easier to display than something like the Firehouse set or other large buildings. On the working steering wheel - that's done sometimes in Technic sets. It's typically expected that you'd drive the vehicle around using the knob on the roof and that the steering wheel matching what you do is a cool function. I don't know that I've ever seen an instruction manual show that you can steer the car from the steering wheel. Yep, it works, but it's far from ideal (hard to reach, sometimes slips gears, takes several rotations, etc) since they don't really expect you to USE the steering wheel. Speaking of, that's a new steering wheel part, isn't it? Minor changes I'd make to be more accurate, based on the trailer - the blue roof lights should be moved outward a stud. And the bright blue hoses running down the side next to the ladder look almost black in the trailer. I think they're just filthy, but those should have been black or at least dark blue IMHO. Perhaps in the movie they get cleaned up and are brighter blue? But in the trailer, they're dark.

I haven't watched Sesame Street since I was a little kid in the early 80s, but this is still an absolute day 1 buy for me. I love the overall look. I'll probably mod it to not be a corner layout so it's easier to see both buildings on a shelf. I'll also mod to put Oscar to the right of the front door where he belongs I wish Cookie was fuzzy (I'm from the era when Elmo wasn't the star so I don't really mind him being smooth) but I know that would have meant another mold in a set that already got a bunch of them. I understand this isn't really a set for the current watchers of Sesame Street (it's not Duplo after all...) so I'm assuming the 18+ rating is just to make it clear this is intended for adult collectors. I think that's at odds though with the set being scaled down and only $120. I think MOST adults who want this as a collectable would have been happier with a $200 set with a couple more figs and more pieces... but there are SO many really expensive sets these days that I'm happy it's smaller and cheaper.

I'm in! What is your favorite FABULAND animal? The monkey. I keep the Fabuland Orchestra (set 3631, and the only Fab set I own) sitting assembled on my desk. Since the monkey has a marching snare drum and I'm a percussionist/drummer/played marching snare for 4 years way back in the day/etc, it's a natural fit. Should LEGO bring FABULAND back? Nope. Don't think it'd do well today. And Friends has all the animals people need these days. What is your least favorite Mafia role? (Can either be a generic role you don't like to see including in games or a specific experience in a game) Vanilla - it so often turns into just waiting around to see what the other people share from night actions. But that also is lower stress, so....

Thanks for the review, and I appreciate all the details you gave on the technical design. Looks like a set we'll all miss.

Correct - it would have been nice to have a more complex gearbox that drove the drum the same way no matter which way the truck is pushed. As for GBC, about the only thing I can think of is having a chute sending balls into the rotating drum which feeds them back out, but you're correct, it wouldn't be terrible exciting since it's opaque. But I fully expect some GBC experts to find clever uses for the parts :) I created the review in a hidden section of the forums for reviews, and then moved it to the Technic forum when the embargo was lifted. I forgot that doing that (instead of copy and pasting into a new post) keeps the original date/time of the post, so it does look like it was available too soon, when it actually wasn't. Sorry for the confusion! I agree, the drum wouldn't work as a front-discharge. The drums on those trucks are much longer and thinner, since they have to reach all the way past the cab. You are correct, there ARE 2 dark blue 3L liftarms in the set (I checked the parts list shown in Sariel's review, since it was easier than pulling my manuals back out). So why not use one in the front grill?

Technic Cement Mixer Thanks to Lego and EB for this review set. Name: Cement Mixer Set Number: 42112 Pieces: 1163 Price: $119.99 (US) Minifigs: 0 Theme: Technic The Box Front Yup, it's a cement mixer alright. I really like that it's something so different - we've never had a Technic truck like this before. It's something other than a crane, forklift, or airplane. Got a mix of blues with a splash of orange highlights. Looks pretty decent to me. (Unsurprisingly, Lego picked the best angle as the front of box image. They do know product photography.) The Box Back It's not the most functional set ever, but it covers the necessities. Looks like it has the ability to rotate the drum either by rolling the truck or manually cranking it. Dual axle steering - wonder if that's got proper steering geometry or not? And that is a super organized array of Technic Pin Connector Round 2/3 there.... I guess that's supposed to be a nice cement slab being poured? The Opening Unfortunately, the box is sealed with thumb tear-holes rather than tape seals. And when you open it, it looks surprisingly empty. It's only about 2/3 full which is less than most sets I've gotten recently. The Contents Dumped out, there's quite a bit here. There are bags divided into group 1, 2, and 3. There's a small bag of the joiners as bag 4, and there's an un-numbered bag of tires. And there's 2 more parts not in a bag.... The New Parts The cement mixer barrel itself. It's 2 identical parts that connect with 4 pins. Once mated together, the only connection points on them are a pair of 1x3 pinhole connections at the closed end. They are printed with a C logo. I appreciate the detail of having the dimple from the molding process right in the middle of the C, so it actually looks like it belongs there. And oh yeah, they are HUGE! Here's a bunch of comparisons to show just how big these pieces are. I think this year's 42108 Mobile Crane might struggle to pick up something this huge (not really; the barrel is very light weight, but it sure LOOKS heavy) The dump truck from 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator is puny next to it. No, you won't be using this as cargo on a train layout. It stands as tall as the Lunar Lander set (and I know the flag and astronaut figs are missing - my kids "borrowed" them and I need to get them back) Finally, it dwarfs the cement mixer barrel from City sets. In fact, you can open the Technic barrel and put the City barrel inside. The city barrel has been used more as other things than it has as a cement mixer - it's been engine shrouds on helicopters, spaceships, etc. It has the advantage of having more connection points since the end is anti-studs allowing both studden and Technic connections to it. Huge Technic parts often don't get any other official usage - think of the huge buckets made for the Volvo Loader or the Liebherr set. The Papers The instructions are split into 2 books and there's a small sticker sheet. And a Legoland promo - not sure how much those will be redeemed with the current events (although it doesn't expire until 2023), but it's in there. Or at least it's in the European box that I received for review, but the website that the brochure references covers all the Legoland resorts and Discovery Centers worldwide. The Build, Bag 1 Bag 1 builds the chassis of the truck, more or less. Up front there's a tiny inline-4 engine representation. There is also the dual-axle steering. Yes, the two axles steer at slightly different angles. To my eye though, it's barely noticeable. The steering mechanism is also redundant. There's both a black gear rack AND an orange 1x2 liftarm pushing each axle. I'm not sure why there's both. The gear rack is the normal and better method. Either one alone though should work. The double axles in the rear are both connected to the driveshaft. The instructions are very clear to make sure you get the two differentials facing opposite ways so it works correctly. It even goes so far as to put a white round joiner in the back corner to give a reference as you build the otherwise very symmetrical structure The Build, Bag 2 Bag 2 adds the supports for the barrel, the gearbox and driveshafts that connect the wheels to the barrel, and a few cosmetic parts. The driveshaft going to the barrel has one of the new linear clutches in it. Until now that part was only available in the massive Leibherr 9800 set. And oddly, they have you put the wheels on now. Most sets save that for last. The Build, Bag 3 Bag 3 finishes off the cab, fenders, and water tank. All that's left is to add the barrel: Oddly, as huge as the barrel parts are, it seems slightly undersized to me on the model. I suspect that's just my American view - this is clearly a European truck with its dual steering axles. Here in the US, I virtually never see cement mixers that rear-dump like this anymore. They've all been replaced by larger trucks that discharge in the front, allowing for a larger, longer barrel: The Front I totally get the rugged vibe that is intended on this truck. However, there's so many little details I don't like. First, I hate these grill stickers. They're not too bad here, since they're divided by the grey bar. But I've seen other sets (42098 Car Transporter) that use multiple of them stacked up, and it's ugly. They're impossible to get all aligned exactly the same, so they look bad. Then there's the dark blue sticker right above that on a black 1x3 liftarm. That part in dark blue has only been in 2 Bionicle sets 15 years ago - so they used a sticker instead. Edit: There ARE two dark blue 3L liftarms in the set, so why on earth not use one here? I also don't like how the dark blue curved panels with stickers don't match up with the curves of the white round parts below. And the orange lights on the roof are too small. The Gap There is a reason the main photos on the box are from angles. The back of the cab might be the biggest offender on the set. There's a huge hole between the cab and the mixer. Why? It feels like just empty, wasted space. The smokestacks don't come all the way down - they just end halfway down the cab. And worst, what is up with that exposed yellow axle for the steering? At least use black, but better yet, move it forward into the back wall of the cab. You can also see an example of wasted parts there. There's a grey Technic Pin 1/2 in the grey liftarm that the steering axle goes through. It's there JUST to fill the hole and make sure people don't try to run the axle through the wrong spot. There's quite a few of those throughout the set. I'm not sure why Lego feels that's necessary - this is a 10+ rated set and I guess they want to help out the younger end of that range? The Function There's a lever on the right hand side that switches the barrel from wheel-driven to non-driven to crank-driven. Here's how it works with the crank. This also shows one thing that should have been improved. You've GOT to hold the truck with your other hand while cranking, or it bounces all over. It really needed some functional chocks or outriggers to stabilize it while discharging the "concrete." The Turn Radius Here you can see both the wheel-driven barrel function and the terrible turning radius. Trucks like this aren't known for being maneuverable like a sports car, but still, this is barely able to turn at all. A slight redesign of the steering axle system should have allowed sharper turns. The Chute In the definite plus column is the discharge chute. This is a very clever design that gives it a great deal of flexibility to aim the concrete. The chute itself is an interesting design to get the V-shape. Given how fast the parts come out and how bouncy they are, it'd have been nicer to be a little deeper V though. Ratings Design: 7 Build Experience: 7 Features: 6 Playability: 8 Parts/Value: 6 Overall: 7. Overall, it's a nice addition to the Technic range of construction vehicles. It's unique and will attract a lot of builders for that reason alone. The build is not overly repetitive and provides an array of beams in two shades of blue. The build isn't perfect though. I'm looking forward to seeing those barrel pieces being used in a future Iron Builder competition. And for value, it's ok. $120 feels a little steep for me, especially for a Technic set where not only are there the usual hundreds of pins but also 100 joiners in the part count. I'd personally have waited to purchase this set until I got a sale or at least a nice freebie from Lego with my purchase.

Yeah, that's what I mean by things changing while I was gone for a while... we used to do lots of poke votes and lots of light-hearted accusations of people being scummy for silly things. I'm still trying to adjust :)

I agree that having more insanity would help. I've tried playing mafia other places and hated it - they were even more meta than anything here, and at least the place I played, had zero story/role play aspects, so it became just a logic debate. So the less predictable (especially doing things off of the mafiascum wiki standard) the better IMHO. Although a game that was stated up front to be completely basic (almost like a mafia school game) would be fun too, just in a different way. I agree, and yet somehow, all the games I've done recently got me in trouble for my role playing. Even lynched in Star Trek Mafia :) I took a while off mafia and that's something that changed I think in the "EB meta"

Remi - that was pretty much a random pick, so we got lucky. Trying to kill Vincent - we had basically decided to not kill that night, so Trenton tried to kill you knowing it'd fail in case someone was watching. Cause why would he try to kill someone being blocked if there was a spy in the town block? Governor - I like the idea of the role, but it's hard to use. How often would I think so strongly that someone is town (when the rest of the game is lynching them) to revive them? Pretty rare I'd think - so I'd save it till late and only really be able to use it if I was in the town block enough to know who to trust. Fred - I'm not sure that you were actually scummy, as much as most people assumed either you or I was scum.

Welcome Hinck, and congrats. I was Andrew... and I screwed up a couple times pretty big. The scum SHOULD have won. My first big mistake was somehow forgetting that a neutral would count against us in the parity rule. I truly expected it to be over at 3:3:1 when that wouldn't make any sense. So we killed Robin night 6 when we should have stayed home, and it got us all caught. For the record Vincent, we tried to kill YOU night 3. Didn't give away your bulletproof though since Daniel protected you. Night 4 we stayed home and didn't try to kill. Night 5 we tried to kill Emmett, because I forgot about the whole seraph knight concept. I assumed that Robin's limited protect meant alternating nights or something, so since Emmett was protected night 4, we thought he'd be wide open night 5. And of course, thanks bob! Go take a break, somewhere that doesn't involve pirates.

Love it! If it gets made, it would absolutely be a day 1 purchase for me.

I was a jailkeeper. I could "put someone in jail" for the night which both blocked anything they tried to do and protected them from kill attempts. It would NOT prevent other actions (they could be watched or investigated or whatever). Normally a commuter is able to take themselves away for the night and be un-anythingable (can't be killed, nor investigated/watched/etc). In this case the commuter could send some else away for the night and prevent them from doing anything or anything being done to them. The commuter was an even stronger version of my role, if I understand it correctly. Interesting that Louis and I went for each other night 1.

Morgan here - I was a town jailkeeper (so block and protect). Sign me up bob! This was fun!