kbalage

A few weeks ago when we had the different Control+ sets and PU components disappearing on lego.com I called customer service and they confirmed that the buggy is planned to be retired by the end of the year. I'm not sure about the reasons, but one possible cause might be that mystical Technic hub with screws from the 42129 promo shots. Since LEGO practically denied the existence so far, I guess it will appear in the upcoming sets but might be added to current / previous ones as well. But for the older ones like the buggy that might mean a re-release with a new set number. The release of the Zetros without the new hub contradicts a bit to this theory, but I think we'll have to wait and see.

So that changes the grille and the headlights probably, I guess other accessories like the bull bar, roll bar and stuff will be available for the 2021 edition as well. B / C pillars did not seem to change significantly either. I get that the orange one is 4 door and the blue one is a 2 door version and I was kindof OK with the building solutions on the orange one, but now that I saw the blue one that one seems to be definitely better :) As I read the Raptor will be SuperCrew only for 2021 so the designer had to change it... bummer.

Wanna bet? It has a 600 mAh battery... at least the case will be (hopefully) smaller, but I'd be very surprised to see more than 2 ports on it.

I'm sure you wandered :)

Here's a little tow & rescue test with some size comparison as well:

18+ means it is targeted to casual adult builders, and it's more for display than for playing. This new label kind of breaks the previous logic where the higher age rating meant a more complex build.

Fair enough! We definitely need more sets like the Tow Truck. Or sets like the Osprey that had the same price, a single battery box/motor and a gearbox to switch between the function. edit - I see others share the same opinion :)

Well let's say that ever since sets with PU components were introduced, a lot of people labelled them "outrageously expensive" compared to previous sets with PF.

Out of curiosity I compared the price of the set to some previous fully RC LEGO sets with Power Functions and the difference is surprisingly small, that's why I don't really see why sets with PU are suddenly considered too pricey. RC LEGO sets in general are and were significantly more expensive than the others. Even small and "cheap" sets like 42065 had an RRP of $99 with only 370 pieces! 42080 with a single motor, battery box and a few pneumatic parts was $150, same as 42128 that has double the piece count and has way more pneumatics. As @Johnny1360 said, if you want something RC and don't really care about the building experience or don't want to make MOCs, then LEGO is clearly a bad choice. The key factor for LEGO is the ability to change, upgrade or build whatever you feel like using the motors and controllers from those expensive sets, and this is where PU currently still fails compared to PF - if you don't want to configure your controls in an app then you're out of luck.

I can just repeat what was said many times already, a great review of a great set! And I'm still jealous of those amazing photos, any chances for an Eurobricks Technic photography course?

I'm not sure we need yet another topic for the set, so here is my review video with the usual detailed walkthrough of the building process and lots of other information:

@Gray Gear the coolest new feature of the app, as the other features are pretty much conventional. Another set of meaningless challenges are not very exciting... The diff lock has a much better use of the simple M motor and the clutches for multiple reasons. Since a single motor controls both differential locks and there's a significant difference between the amount of gears / gear ratio involved and the "length" of the mechanism between the motor and the differentials, one of them closes sooner than the other. This means that central clutch has to engage a little bit to ensure a proper position on the rear differential. Additionally, LEGO is still a plastic toy and not precise metal machinery, there's a significant slack when this amount of gears are used so you need to have some play with the clutches. Just check the gearbox of 42114, that one relies on the position of the motor and can become misaligned fairly easily.

@syclone the app is still in beta, so hopefully the virtual-only part will be accessible without the set. About the vertical video, I wanted to test YouTube Shorts and that only works with this format :)

As I see this feature was maybe a bit too hidden in the Control+ app, I did not see it being mentioned by other reviews I saw despite being one of the highlights of the set for me. Basically you get an augmented reality overlay of the Zetros truck in the app, you can "strip down" the model and see the details of the drive train, and you can also switch it on (virtually), have an x-ray view of all the gears, shafts and differentials running, engage the diff lock and test the steering! I really love the feature and it has tons of potential, I hope it'll get used and explored further in the next updates of the Control+ app. Here's a quick demonstration of it, more details will come in my review video:

Here's my detailed building review of the Tow Truck:

Already happened, but considering the very different departments and interests involved I don't expect a resolution anytime soon.

Well, TLG needs to decide whether they want to apply the same rules to the retailers and their recognized communities / media. Previously retailers were allowed to share assets provided by TLG before starting to sell the sets, which was fine. But recently (like this example shows), retailers started to act like media and started to release full blown reviews after the reveal embargo but before the shelf date or the review embargo of the set. I assume their previous agreements did not cover this situation, so although they might not brake any rules, they use a loophole in the system to make more promotion for themselves. This is an advantage no one else can beat, as no one else has physical access to the sets way before the release. If this becomes a wide spread habit then it will definitely hurt the reviewers on a longer term, so please allow us to judge them at least a little bit

These guys like this one or JB Spielwaren are retailers, not experienced reviewers. They see the popularity of the review videos, and since as a retailer they have very early access to the sets they can film these videos and publish sooner than us because they are not bound by TLG's review embargo dates. As the first ones to publish this brings them views and more clicks on their webpages, but does not assure the quality of the review.

@BrickTronic this is quite interesting, can't wait to see those hubs!

I stumbled upon some information on LEGO's website about a new rechargeable battery called "Rechargeable Battery No. 4". You can read the full story in the linked article, but here're the main parameters: 7.3V, 600 mAh, 4.38 Wh, weight: 25g That's a pretty small battery with low capacity, so I'm really wondering what could be the product where it will be used. There're 3 set numbers listed on the webpage (45345, 45609, 45612) which suggest mostly Education products, although the first one is close the the WeDo 2.0 product numbers and I'd be surprised to see a new product developed for that. So maybe the first one can be a regular consumer product? We'll see soon I guess. I listed some theories in my blog post, but I'd love to hear your versions.

You have a few options: On an Android device yon can simply download and install the .apk file for a previous BuWizz app version that still had the Technic hub support, e.g. from here You can use BrickController 2, a great and versatile app but it requires a game controller that is compatible with your smart device You can try other 3rd party apps like Controlz You can use the official Powered Up app. It requires some visual coding, but if the abilities of the BuWizz app were enough for you then it should not be really complicated to set up a profile. Here's an example tutorial to control 42124, and you can find a code block guide on my webpage

Buggy is back on most of the European lego.com pages, with no apparent changes. Volvo is also back, Technic hub is still missing.

@blondasek we'll see, only time will tell :) But I think this theory still doesn't really match the information of the set being retired by the end of the year. Why all this hassle if it will be gone anyway, and why it does not happen with e.g. the Rally Car that is rumored to be retired at the same time?

What could be the case with the age indication? 42124 is 10+ and it's gone, 42109 is 9+ and it's still there.

So we've seen a version with screws on 2 promo shots for 42129, but the circumstances and the reasons are far from being confirmed at the moment. About the sets, 42124 is missing from most country-specific lego.com pages, 42114 is available in the US but not in Europe or anywhere else I checked. 88012 Technic hub is also missing in most countries.