anothergol

IMHO Speed Champions is the worst as for stickers. And here it's not printed vs stickers, it's the fact that they relied way too much on drawn detail. I got the R8 and it looks nothing like the one on the box, without stickers. Generally, Lego uses grilles & cheese slopes on car fronts, but in this line they just go for large slopes, so there is absolutely no detail if you don't put the stickers on.

really? I thought that Lego was producing as much as needed (for the sets) in large batches, and once it's known that there won't be a shortage for the set, the remainder is put in B&P. Meanwhile, -some- new parts also appear before the set they're in is released. Some important ones are already out of stock - I'm glad I got 20x LBG 24201's (inverted slopes) in time.

Nice mushroom & drawers

Cute, that would make a nice Lego Ideas project

Fine, but wake me up the day you will see anything remotely good on a screenshot of the LDD with those backgrounds Lego made one this year. And that's the difference between these, which are hardly "ideas", it's the execution:

Bluerender requires no knowledge, while the LDD takes time to master. You only have to know that Bluerender exists, and those who take crap screenshots of their crap builds don't know about Bluerender because they don't care.

I was just toying with that small set that I found back, and something that I hadn't noticed back then: they got the slopes right! You can -chain- them, they are offset by exactly 1 plate. No need for impossible tricks like with Lego - I so wish Lego was ditching all of their slopes (especially the grainy ones) & change to this system.

if you've invested enough time in a MOC, you're not gonna make a crap screen capture of it in the LDD

But have you seen even just 1 that wasn't crap?

If Lego rejected all pictures of the LDD using those ugly built-in backgrounds, I think that would filter a big part of the crap. Funny how their rules state that a picture of the LDD is ok with the background scenery, but not with the grid, while the grid isn't as ugly.

It's nothing naïve & trust me that Lego is more than happy about any buzz around new sets, it's gold for any company. If one of Lego's departments is faking being unhappy about it, it can only be in order to keep some fairness among distributors. Like, they don't have the news anymore, Amazon did. Any distributor who's not Amazon can certainly be unhappy about it, yeah, but not Lego. I would be Lego, I would give someone the job of "leaking" stuff periodically so there is not a day when there is no buzz about something Lego.

I only bought a small set to check it out, but I was impressed with the rubber-coated ball joints, I mean Lego only has a little bit of rubber in one joint piece. I was also impressed that this small set had "left & right" parts similar to what Lego only has as one merged part. It only lacked of some "magic" to me, I wasn't really interested in that Transformers set.

Really, is it just me who has problems believing that "oops, we leaked photos AGAIN" is nothing but a marketing stunt? Especially if it wasn't the case, Lego (or any company) would be happy about the buzz and wouldn't even fake complaining about it. It has happened every single time: first tiny pics are "left by mistake" on their servers, and when the buzz fades out, bigger pics "are made visible prematurely". Ok it's more believable here because it's Amazon leaking, but not when it's Lego itself, not when it happens every single time. oh it will, I was waiting for it to appear in grey, I'm a sucker for such parts (I also see the "robo arm + bar" that appeared in the Beetle, but only 1 part in a set)

hahaha, "mythology animals in Lego sets such as Bigfoot, or the giant squid"

The latest parts got purchasable about 8 months after they appeared, so don't hold your breath.

Do you mean the Batmobile? Note that the windwhield parts are pretty cheap on BL. Probably too specific/recognizable, not something MOCers generally want.

I only see *one* (93604) part new in LBG, though

I have, but I've only noticed they used the same side dishes, and in DBG weirdly. I don't know why, because they're not really after metrics accuracy (the only reason I went for those 5x5's instead of the 6x6's that have a more correct shape). So I think they went for a design similar to most AT-ST's out there: oblique side plates, and thus, the same "wedged in" in the back, which is wrong (even if it looks nice). The side plate has a right angle in the top-back, not exactly 90deg, but nearly, and 90deg is definitely the best approximation one can make in Lego. So this official one, once again, has the front & back that are parallel. Also, as predictable, they went for the same legs as the AT-DP. Sure it's sturdy, but.. And, no 2x2 wedge plate in LBG, while it clearly had room for them, like behind the top hatch, it features 2 but in DBG (also 2 on the front plate). So I don't think it borrowed much from existing AT-ST's, but it should have.

I wish those brands were taking a look at Bricklink, picking every HTF part that has never been released or released in just 1 set, and making a pack of just that. Who would it hurt anyway? Lego doesn't wanna produce them, it would "only" hurt a couple of sellers offering a 3-cents part for 5eur only because of its color, which I'd refuse to buy anyway. Hey, it could even make Lego hurry more & allow us to actually buy new part colors without having to wait for nearly a year. I just saw minifig hands for 50eur, each. Because they're trans-clear. Wouldn't feel guilty at all to use a chinese knockoff of these (not that I need them specifically).

Thanks all Actually it all started with the nose, those wedge parts new in LBG. The way they were linked in reverse allowed for an angled fuselage like the front of an X-Wing. That nose part (attached with clips on all sides) is surprisingly strong btw, so it's pretty nice for spaceship noses, as it's hollow & allows for a landing gear inside. The rest was more or less guided-by-the-brick (much easier to MOC when there is no model to follow). Something I wanted to use was the Fabuland cauldron as the back thruster, but then I realized there was no clutch power with a 2x2 round plate, so I went for something else. And now I'm actually realizing that I could have attached it using 4x 1x1 round plates instead.

Seeing how the AT-ST will only have 1 pilot, it's indeed worth buying one of those - as the minifig head with the goggles on won't need the helmet with the goggles. Now am I right that there is no legs out there with dual-molded black boots? I could only find a Batman in DBG. It would have been cooler than the legs print, IMHO. Also, seeing how the 2x2 round tile for the hatch will be stickered, I'm afraid this one won't have printed "vents" round tiles in the back, another letdown. Oh, and I'm gonna switch to these flat gear parts for the side guns. For some reason, they still exist at B&P while they haven't been produced since 2009 and are more pricey as used at BL.

Something you have to consider is that the majority of Lego's "rules" are bound to 1 single thing: Lego should be re-usable. And to be re-usable, parts should be kept usable. That's really where all those rules come from, it's not about being purist, it's about not doing stuff that will damage part (immediately or over time). As for incorporating third-party stuff, it's kind of like "Lego" as soon as Lego has released it. I'm not even sure Lego has always been producing things like rubberbands & pneumatic tubes themselves (would make sense to have them produce by another company), but as soon as Lego has released it, it's officially "Lego". So it's only in ads that Lego can incorporate non-Lego stuff anyway. Still, to me there are 2 kinds of things an adult can make with Lego 1. MOCs as an art, and here it's about everyone sharing the same rules, thus yeah, we'd better be purists 2. things that work. Maybe Technics vehicles/machines are on the fence here, but if I was doing robotics, I would certainly not care if everything was Lego. Here Lego is more of a tool, easier & faster than 3D-printing. The thing just has to work, whether it's for the beauty of working, or to really have a function. But making a nice MOC that's painted (although I have seen great painted MOCs), uses other brands or cut parts, to me it's all like entering a pencil drawing contest with an oil paint, it doesn't make sense. If it looks great but it's not "all Lego", then I put it in the "free art" category, and it will really have to be much more impressive, as it had less rules to follow. And next to a 3D-printed 3D model that has been carefully painted, the near-Lego MOC probably won't shine.

I wanted to do something with this year's Batmobile windshield, those front wedge parts new in LBG, as well as those cool old winglet parts (around the back thruster) that don't appear in the LDD. https://flic.kr/s/aHskBeV7pg

Yeah it's definitely very wrong. I found out when connecting the recent "hot air balloon" parts, they wouldn't angle in the LDD like they do with real parts. I first suspected the balloon parts, as they're new, but it was the connector. I don't know if it has been reported already, but there's also part 64644. When you put a rod in its larger end, the rod goes way deeper in the LDD than it does for real. Can be a problem when doing precise work.

But actually, today's official sets use a lot of SNOT and it's in order to make things sturdier. Generally Lego surrounds critical parts with brackets so that they can make it very sturdy from all angles, and the bonus part is that it allows for better decoration.