Mylenium

You could discuss this endlessly as today's "pastels" are nothing like the purely chalk-based products with natural pigments eons ago. It's probably fair to say that many colors that you couldn't do way back then are the most normal thing today due to synthetic pigments being way more intense. You do have a point, but ultimately it's a technicality based on an old non-technical definition. It would not be impossible to create Dark Azur or Medium Lavender as a "pastels" today using different binding mediums and a whole lot of pigments. That aside, I think with all LEGO colors it mostly comes down to some intermediate tones being missing, which in my opinion is the thing that makes Friends Sets so contentious and off-putting to many. If you forcibly have to conform to a limited set of colors, of course even the best of designs can look rather rubbish because they feel unbalanced and whacky. Mylenium

All of it and none of it at the same time. It's really the combination of everything and I think the discussions of what people consider desirable Technic sets speak volumes. Nobody would buy the most elaborate, finessed mechanics if they look totally crap. Conversely, nobody who's really into Technic would probably ever consider poorly engineered items even if they look quite realistic. I could endlessly cite examples for all of these cases including many commercially offered MOCs. As far as creating genuine custom builds for one's own pleasure is concerned, I also aim to accomodate all those aspects. Just building a clunky pile of connected liftarms with clicking gerars and calling it a GBC or whatever doesn't satisfy me. I need something that is rooted in reality and in my opinion that's also like in genuine mechanical engineering: To build something that works, but is also robust and compact, so it could exist in the real world as a product. All of that of course within the limitations imposed by Technic being what it is, but that's another pleasureable challenge in itself. Mylenium

Amazing! Mylenium

It seems all sets after 2014 should no longer be affected by it. The way I understand it, it actually was an auxiliary substance used to control evenness of the pigment distribution that caused this and LEGO no longer are using it. Mylenium

Depends on which Gaudi you are talking about or more to the point about which of his phases, I suppose. It's not that all his buildings are batshit crazy and colorful nor that he was the only one drawing inspiration from mediterranean traditions and the impressionists/ expressionists of that time... Mylenium

I like it, but I wouldn't call it Art Nouveau. This seems more like a wild mix of kitschy neo-romanticism with the strict early phase before Art Nouveau could shed its neo-gothic heritage and then some wild South European modernist stuff of the era thrown in. For my taste it's really a bit too much of everything and as someone already said it looks more like a fairytale castle. Mylenium

I wouldn't recommend it. I always find this the worst thing. People create digital projects that never work in the real world all the time, be it just that they use elements in colors they aren't actually available. Also as they say "Need is the mother of invention" and I find that quite often not having a specific part at hand forces me to think of alternate, often better solutions. It's the old curse of all engineering - if you have all options, you tend to settle for the simplest solution. As for learning stuff I would simply buy a bunch of sets. In recent years LEGO have taken on a very liberal attitude and use techniques that once were considered "illegal" in their own sets, so you can learn a lot by just building. Getting the books the otehrs recommended might be nice, but a lot of the stuff shown there is mainstream these days, anyway, and it may be more efficient to buy just more contemporary sets to stock up your parts and get some variety than spending a lot of money on expensive collectibles. Mylenium

Thanks for sharing your detailed geek post! ;-) Interesting observations... Mylenium

ABS polymers are on average shape-stable up to 120 degrees Celsius or even more, so it will be long before they even show the faintest sign of warping, especially given LEGO's high quality standards that would take care to not introduce any default warping e.g. due to all too rapid cooling in the mold or things like that. Plenty of safety margin before anything serious will happen to your bricks. The only concern would be normal thermal expansion that may widen gaps and snap elements of studs, but even that isn't going to mean a permanently creaking model that exposes cracked up connections... Mylenium

I've made some improvements to the B-model of the Rally Car set (42077), the sand buggy. Most notably they make the model much more sturdy, which could be useful for adding a motor/ RC functions. Downloadable instructions are included, so it should be easy for you to implement those changes. If you have any questions, just let me know. Check out the article and download on my blog: https://myleniumsbrickcorner.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/rigid-green-and-black-42077-b-model-moc/ Here's a preview of the instruction booklet cover:

It's probably the other way around: Quotas have to be met in terms of the model's construction, number of parts and their types, so a set can be sold at a predetermined price. At least that's how I see it or else total duds selling at outrageous prices like 42070 couldn't be explained. And from my interactions with LEGO's support and in part some people who seem to be connected to the design teams I get the impression that they are very locked into a specific way of thinking. It probably makes all sense to them, but as a customer some decisions are hard to understand. Mylenium

I don't see the issue with "lack of ambition and resources for B-models". Some B-models are in fact more appealing than the A-models, with the 42077's buggy being a good example. The rest can be debated ad infinitum, but personally I don't see why the Porsche or Bugatti should even have B-models. Clearly they are meant as "build once, then put on display". It's a completely different target demographic. The only point of concern/ regret with them is that Technic aficionados will have to use Bricklink or buy the sets, after all, to get some of the more specific parts. It's that inconsistency that always rubs me the wrong way. E.g. it's probably going to take forever before those shift gear corkscrews appear in other sets as well. Mylenium To me that seems like wrong priorities either way. To me it's all about "finesse" for lack of a better term. I wanna be enawed by clever enginering solutions, but at the same time the models to look nice and have decent functions. Whether that necessitates a thousand parts or just hundred is secondary to me. E.g. my exploits with the 42057 (https://myleniumsbrickcorner.wordpress.com/2018/06/10/final-surprise-42057-moc-finished/) hopefully show that even the smallest of models can inspire you. At the same time a big model can be just tedious to build, regardless whether it's the structural elements or functional parts, if it has too many repetitive steps and is too simplistic overall. That is to say the satisfaction one can derive from building Technic models hinges on a lot of factors and to me it's mostly about a good balance of all the different aspects. Mylenium

I guess it's subject to personal opinion. I find those clunky engine blocks one of the ugliest parts LEGO has. ;-) Not saying that mine is perfect, of course. I think the most appropriate would be to create a hanging three cylinder engine from some cylindrical pin connectors, though it would be difficult to get a stable model then and keep it looking elegant, being that the engine also serves as a structural element, both in my version and the original. Mylenium

I've finally finished my little project of creating a tuned-up version of the 42057 set an here it is complete with building instructions for your pleasure: https://myleniumsbrickcorner.wordpress.com/2018/06/10/final-surprise-42057-moc-finished/ Let me know if you have questions! Enjoy! Mylenium

Pretty amazing! Mylenium

Interesting, especially the comparison to the old version. I'm still undecided, though. It seems to add so little over the smaller 50 Euro Y-Wing (75152) that's still available.... Mylenium

Here's a little something that perhaps might come in handy for decorating your cities and buildings: https://myleniumsbrickcorner.wordpress.com/2018/05/17/trash-time/ It's probably old hat to a lot of users and simple enough so that more experienced users can whip it up in a few minutes, but having mostly built Technic for quite a time I'm just warming up to the more traditional LEGO stuff, so please bear with me. ;-) If you have thoughts and comments, just let me know. Thanks! Mylenium

Lovely!

Pretty neat!