Bartybum

Depends on what the terms of their contract were. I doubt Boeing gave them money given that the set didn't seem any cheaper than other sets of a similar piece count

Yeah but it has to be more than adjustable suspension and crab steering. That takes up nowhere near the real estate of a drivetrain and transmission.

Yeah but like... what? Electric cars have nothing interesting going for them

I dunno, it still feels different.

Sorry that's what I meant. I've often seen the two be used more or less interchangeably, if incorrectly. I've seen hard sci-fi be used to describe Halo as well

This is not a story thing, it’s a grit and thematic thing. Despite the fantasy alien elements, Avatar has a pretty distinctly harder, more violent and realistic feel to it akin to Aliens than Star Wars, which is magic space wizards and bright flashy lasers. Especially when the vehicle in question is a dark green helicopter with guns dripping off it like an Apache.

Avatar's military stuff would be considered hard science fiction, which is quite far from the science fantasy of Star Wars

Let’s also not spread misinformation, hey?

Let's not talk about this...

I like my coffee like i like my ladders - with a billion single failure points

That was far from cylindrical though, it was a rounded rectangle: There's a bit of a hop skip and a moon landing between a cargo plane and an airliner. A Beluga would need to be properly circular and smooth at the same time, which would be very difficult to do without lots of new circular panels. The front bulge would be extremely hard to replicate nicely with Technic panels too.

That's three three-output gearboxes. That's quite a lot of real estate to take up :S Have you considered having two modes instead, with outriggers bound to the gearbox? I've said this idea somewhere up here a while back but I'll repeat it: Front loader mode: Drive Arm Bucket Backhoe mode: Slew Boom Stick Bucket You could then have steering either as an independent function with a sixth motor to avoid issues with slack as you mentioned, or you could have it as a fourth function in the front loader mode. If you're worried about slack then you could also use actuator steering for greater precision. Good thing about this solution is that you consolidate the outriggers into the gearbox itself, rather than needing a whole other gearbox for them. You could gear down the rotary changeover catches so that when your outriggers are up the catches are in driving position, but when they're down the catches are in backhoe position. You might have some issues with immense torque acting on the gearbox but you can implement a linear clutch (god bless that piece holy shit it's fantastic) somewhere in the drivetrain. Another good thing is that instead of having three separate three-output gearboxes, you'll have four two-output gearboxes, the complexity of which might be greatly reduced to give you a bit more space.

@Void_S How do you slew the backhoe though? If you wanted to do it with four motors then surely it’d be better to have the bucket and stick be connected, like they did for the recent excavator. I think that a proper RC flagship backhoe needs a 6 port hub with five motors.

Idk lol, I was just correcting an incorrect statement

I would not say it's a Beluga... I'd sooner think it'll be something like a cargo plane or a Cessna, something whose shape is more suited to the Technic medium than a cylindrical airliner. Personally I think it'll be a helicopter

Given it's a perspective photo, it's far too large and at the wrong angle to be sitting on the ground. It is indeed hovering

It doesn't always happen like that though. The Chiron released in 2016, two years before the set

Oof, that is definitely a concerningly low price point :S

This year sure, but why not next year? What do you base that off?

42100 exists though. It's too early to rule out all future two-hub models, given that we've only had two 4K flagships so far.

Motorized ladder - can't discount it as a function for a front loader if it's considered a notable function for a bulldozer But in all seriousness, I agree, but only if you only have space for one hub. A front loader needs all four functions to be operable at the same time, so you can't have a gearbox, or any more motorized functions without adding a second one. If you do, however, then there's quite a lot you could do, such as a locking mechanism with PTO for different attachments (closing bucket, claw or forks), or even a completely different style of arm, like the telescoping one on the Torion 738T Sinus. If you're willing to sacrifice some playability by getting rid of simultaneous functions, then this could even be achieved with four motors and a four-output distribution gearbox. While expensive, a 3-4K piece model of this with CLAAS tyres, two hubs and seven motors (2x drive, steering, arm, telescope, 2x attachment) should be entirely achievable, and would be awesome... damn now I've really hyped myself up about this lol

I doubt they’d go for war themed trucks, especially not the one making a meme of the Vietnam War

Why no logging truck? An RC model is entirely possible in the Arocs's scale

Someone did make a B model for the 42128 tow truck, but it had no trailer @Ngoc Nguyen Another idea to add: Forest harvester, similar to the Ponsse Scorpion King

@Ngoc Nguyen Thoughts on adding a road grader and forklift, or would they not have enough appeal for a flagship?