kbalage

Our reviews won't come today, that's for sure. Where does this date come from btw?

There's no official release date yet, but according to the rumors it is supposed to be January 1st 2023. Such cheaper and, well "average" LEGO sets without much focus don't get a proper reveal, they just randomly pop up at some point on lego.com before their street date. TLG doesn't start to sell them before that date, but you might find them at retailers, although usually it doesn't happen this early... I don't know much about TLG's logistics approach but I guess they ship the sets when they have them, all shops want to have the biggest stock possible for the Holidays. More important sets have the "do not put on shelf before xxx" sticker, I assume these sets don't have such indication. But the Bugatti is not available yet anywhere as far as I know, otherwise Promobricks could have easily indicated their source.

@R0Sch the follower count of PB's YouTube channel is not really relevant, their article and video will be the review most of the folks will read or watch about this set in Germany for sure. Yes there will be a lot of people watching my review as well who are interested in the building details and techniques, but for casual Technic fans the PB review is already good and informative enough, I'm sure they will take the time to release it in English as well. Obviously this set is not the most important release of 2023 so I'm not worried about this one explicitly, I'm worried about the trends. If every retailer and their blog/YouTuber friends will be free to publish reviews whenever the regular retailer stock arrives and TLG won't do anything about it then that will be a bigger concern in general for us.

Promobricks was recognized some time ago, you can look up on their website how and why that ended. The ability to source a set more than a month before its official release seems to be a pretty grey area for me, but it's really up to TLG to figure out how that was possible. I'm sure people are happy to see the details of the sets as soon as possible, we are definitely not happy because our reviews will be old news once the embargo is over. I'm sure it was mentioned a dozen times, but getting a "free set" is an almost irrelevant perk for being recognized, I would happily pay for those sets if required, just like I pay for a lot of other sets I present on the channel. Being able to do a review and publish it before the release is what matters, but apparently retailers and non-recognized media are allowed to win more an more in this game as well.

Not sure what you mean by "below-average" set situation, and I don't know either why you think 2022 was a "complete failure". We got the Ferrari Daytona for 1:8 scale sculpture fans, the Airbus is the biggest and most technically accurate helicopter ever, the ATV is a great compact set with a finally properly labeled 2-speed gearbox and lots of cool parts in a compact package, even the small Chopper was cool. The development lead time is rarely confirmed, I think projects like the 1:8 cars and other flagship sets (which is not an official label btw) might take 2 years from the idea to the shelves, but it depends on many factors. Sometimes they already have concept models ready that needs to be reworked when the project gets a green light, in other cases they have to develop from scratch. We've seen delays and redesigns previously (remember the 6x6 Zetros concept?), if the crane really got delayed for some reasons I'm glad they did it and I hope it means a more reasonable end result. Honestly I would love to see TLG focusing more on mid-scale sets with interesting functions rather than giving us another gigantic $500 motorized set that struggles under its own weight.

Providing beta access on mobile platforms is usually account-based, this is not a solution meant to be used by the general public. If they make the software fully available for download on lego.com at least for one platform that is already somewhat acceptable, but I still think the best would be to implement the missing functionality in the Spike Prime app until 2024. I really don't see why these functions (machine learning, remote support) shouldn't live going forward if they've been already developed for a very similar environment.

There are a few question marks remaining though. What about all the downloadable content in the Mindstorms app, how that will be accessible after 2024? Keeping the app installed or the apk available or unofficial sites for power users is an option, but that shouldn't be the official way to go. Hopefully TLG will make the whole Mindstorms "package" available for download before pulling the plug, although I don't think that is possible on all platforms, e.g. on iOS. If they want to keep the features and functionality alive then all extra abilities of Mindstorms and the current content within the app should be made available in the Spike Prime environment. About Powered Up, unfortunately it is nowhere near as developed as Mindstorms, it is still totally undocumented and most importantly it doesn't work with the 6 port hubs at the moment.

If the related piece count is correct then none of these seems to have any electronics included. Adding the sets expected to retire to the equation, in 2023 HY1 the only available sub-$300 Control+ set will be the Transformation Vehicle

They didn't announce anything, and it is not explicitly mentioned in the timeline image so it is mostly wishful thinking

You really cannot improve the system and add features without introducing a proper way to tweak the settings. Any "advanced" solution developed by 3rd parties for PF like BuWizz or SBrick had to use a smart device, otherwise you simply cannot set inputs and outputs properly, or you'd have to limit the possibilities of the system which does not make much sense. I don't think a strict physical-only solution would be the way to go after PF, or even after PU. Tactile feedback is important for the controls, but it wouldn't be that hard to build a system that relies on some default behaviors for physical switches, buttons or proportional remotes, and would allow further tweaking and uploading of their configuration with a smart device. Ideally it still wouldn't require a smart device to run in every scenario, but would offer the possibility to run either a saved code on the hubs themselves or run live code from the smart device, similar to the way Mindstorms operated. Default behavior of hubs and remotes was something that even the PU team explored a few years ago when we had workshops with them, but apparently didn't make it to production. They still might come, we'll see.

Ugliness is totally subjective :) I just checked the gearbox of the Daytona as an example, don't really see what could be more pleasant without removing the color coding of the gears, which is again a system property and not a choice of aesthetics. Almost everything around the moving parts is black, red or grey. Building the gearbox is one of the most challenging parts of the whole process for most people, color coding helps with that. As an example, one of the most frequent issues with the Defender's build is to swap a dark bluish grey gear with a black one. The size should be visibly different, still people pick "a dark" gear and force it in place just to figure out the issue much later. IMHO gears are color coded with visibly different colors for a reason and it is good this way.

As @vascolp mentioned you only need to use the controller as the input, like the sliders/buttons in the Powered Up app. The hubs are totally able to run code on their own (see Pybricks), so they should be able to run everything required to control e.g. the Liebherr set, including storing data for the calibration of the actuators. You'd need an app to initiate the calibration at the beginning, then configure the remote (or simply have a default layout to use), save that data to the hub(s) and afterwards you'd be ready to play without any further smart device requirement. @allanp TLG does not need to reinvent the wheel with the controllers, any generic Xbox / PS controller layout would be more than enough to control most of the sets. The problem with the built in smart device is the cost of the full hw + sw development versus the interest and the lifecycle of the whole platform. Most kids nowadays are fine with touchscreen control, so developing a unique solution for a limited target audience simply does not worth it.

That's a concept to create controller interfaces in the Powered Up app that are customizable, but meanwhile they are closer to the pre-made controllers of the Control+ app. Not sure if they will try to copy the look of those as well or only the functionality, but unlike the Control+ counterparts these will be customizable. @allanp I don't think a controller should have an integrated smart device, that would actually be something stupidly expensive and totally out of TLG's expertise. There are multiple options: - They either create something simple like the current PU remote but with proportional joysticks and more buttons. This could be preconfigured with controller schemes for the different Technic sets, you connect it directly to the hub and control the set. If you want a custom layout then you could use it via the Powered Up app, just like you can do it today with the current remote. - There'd be an option to create a somewhat smarter controller that can store the custom controller profiles. You could configure the profile e.g. in the Powered Up app, then sync it to the remote and use the remote directly with the hubs. - If they could make the VM functionality work on the hubs (running code on the hub itself), then the configuration could be stored on the hub so it could do more complex things with a dumb controller as well. The Pybricks team made it work so I'm not sure what is the challenge for TLG, but there were no promising news about this functionality so far. Coding in general should be way more simplified, actually the best would be a simplified interface where you configure things as you described without coding, and if someone needs more advanced functionality then they could switch to visual coding. About the motors, I don't think TLG will release more powerful motors again, just like they won't make dedicated outdoor RC toys anymore. For anything more powerful we'll have to rely on BuWizz and probably other 3rd parties.

I totally agree with the Speed Champions part, just curious why did you say then after all these positivity that "even those are getting worse" :)

There are multiple teams, and that might be one of the root cause of the challenges. They use a shared hardware platform but develop products based on them somewhat independently, resulting software difference at the end using the very same hubs (e.g. Spike Prime versus Mindstorms apps), and the lack of cross-compatibility. It is really not the question of dedication and the will to consult, and it totally doesn't depend on the team members' themselves. The Powered Up team owns the PU app, but they don't really own any related products unlike the Mindstorms team had. TLG apparently focuses effort and resources on products and the directly related applications, like in the case of Mindstorms, or certain Technic sets and their Control+ profiles. The Powered Up app has profiles for a few non-Technic sets that use the hardware, so the team is in charge of these, but otherwise the free coding canvas is not tied directly to anything so that might be the reason why it did not get a priority in the past few years. This might change though and I would be really-really happy to see Powered Up getting a boost (Oh wait, it will get Boost soon ), but if I would need to speculate I'd say the Mindstorms team will work on some future products and platforms instead.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that, the "Powered Up product" most probably refers to sets like the Winter Village tram or the City Trains that require a control profile in the Powered Up app. It's not impossible though, but so far the impression was that TLG only creates Powered Up hardware if it can be sold within sets, not as a standalone product. They made many Control+ vehicles and for them app control seems to be good enough, so I'm not sure if any market research could convince them to develop a proper physical controller.

Any proper reasoning for this statement? Speed Champions never ever got this amount of attention with new building techniques, new parts and so on. I agree, I don't see Powered Up becoming a coding platform on its own. TLG always focuses on sets, they simply wouldn't put much effort in a generic app. I really hope the developers of Mindstorms are regrouped to work on the next generation of LEGO electronics well in advance, which would be the proper thing to do. But I also hope they are not approaching it only with a coders' mindset, they would desperately need a solution that offers easy to use offline experience as well besides the app-centric coding interface.

I agree with the physical controller part, but you really don't need a new phone to use the Control+ app. I have a Redmi 7a that was $80 2 years ago and the app runs on it without a problem. Alternatively you can use Pybricks and write code to run on the hub itself, and use the LEGO Powered Up controller with it. That one has some limitations though, as it does not offer proportional control with the buttons but that's probably not a deal breaker for a crane.

Your concept of "color vomit" is "color coding" from LEGO's side, simple as that. There are alternative brands satisfying your needs, but for me personally (and for most average customers) the building experience of those is much worse.

First image leaks happened around this time last year, mid-November the previous year, so I guess the topic will become "interesting" again when they will appear.

Yes, based on my experience your data will be removed.

Seems to be a bug in the latest version, I can replicate it in both the Android and iOS versions. If you are on Android then you can try to install one of the previous versions from an .apk repository.

@aFrInaTi0n I compared my devices years ago back in the BuWizz 2 days so that's not really relevant anymore. I'll try with something more recent, although I don't have the latest and greatest smartphones and tablets :)

If the base is black then I don't really care, can un-print it with an eraser in 5 minutes :)

I guess it'll be a blend between the Mustang and the Corvette, no big surprises at this scale. But I really hope we finally get the small mudguard piece in black.