howitzer

Thanks for linking the video. The mechanism is ingenious and now I really want this set even though it's pretty expensive. It feels another nail in the coffin of Technic, as it's yet another example in the trend where the best and most interesting technical functions come in non-Technic sets while Technic sets tend to have the same old boring and repetitive functionality.

In this economy I, too, have to have more prudence than usual in spending, but at least I don't have to worry about missing a great Technic set as there's not much worth buying...

Would brakes need to accomplish anything beyond merely showing the movement of the parts similarly to a fake engine? Can the stopping power of brakes even be demonstrated properly with Lego cars (which are quite small and lightweight after all) as opposed to simply unpowering the motor?

R0sch said "this month" which I assume is referring to October. Comparing the image to the parts list in NE article also appears to have the same elements in them.

Maybe check New Elementary? https://www.newelementary.com/p/new-parts-added-to-lego-pick-brick.html

Did you guys notice how huge the drop was in terms of quality of the non-car sets when comparing this year and previous? Last year there were multiple good non-car sets such as the Emirates yacht, Mack garbage truck, Apollo lunar rover (no I don't count it as a car in this sense), the orrery and Volvo truck+excavator set. This year? Only the Volvo loader is worthwhile, all others are cars, tiny sets or half-assed in design. I just made this comparison and I think this stark contrast in the lineup quality has affected my thinking about the current state of the theme. Even 2023 was much, much better than 2025, as was 2022. Hopefully there will be something nice next year or the year after that, otherwise Technic theme is doomed. And yeah, the cars should be more interesting functionally.

This item does not ship to Finland. I guess I won't be trying it.

It's not but the topic is about Technic not being what it once was, so I think comparisons to the City sets aren't far off as they seem to be doing there all kinds of things that used to be at the core of Technic while Technic has become Speed Champions with fake engines and steering.

Quite a few important Technic pieces are being discontinued at the PaB store, so now's the last chance to get them. Full list here: https://www.newelementary.com/p/lego-pick-brick-retiring-parts.html

I believe this is precisely what happened. Smartphone control seems kind of obvious easy thing to do at first but as you said, it can be surprisingly complex and cumbersome thing to develop and especially maintain, while also being poorer in terms of user experience when we talk about vehicle remote control. But TLG isn't a software company so they probably didn't have the expertise in house to really think this through and ended up making bad decisions.

If there were, you could read about ithere. Nobody's holding back information they are able to share, so no point in asking about it.

I believe vast majority of these motors are sold in complete sets, not separately. Only AFOLs and similar hobbyist ever think of buying separate motors and they are a small minority of all buyers (and even most AFOLs never use any sort of motors in their builds). So I guess the question comes down to which company has the biggest market share in Lego-like construction toys and there I believe TLG still firmly holds the lead - though competitors have been gaining ground, especially in east Asia. Of course TLG no longer produces PF-motors so we're only dealing with aftermarket stuff currently, enabling competitors to gain some ground but there is a huge number of PF-era electronics still out there (you can still buy new PF L motors in BL only for 20-25€ and used ones for a lot less) so I don't think competitors are going to overshadow that anytime soon.

Now compare and contrast this to 42215, which is huge, barely works and isn't even RC. Extraordinary work!

I don't think the functions in the pirate ship are particularly complex or very Technic-y, but they seem to work well and are integrated nicely into the build, which is remarkable in other ways, such as the geometry trickery that is used to achieve the shape of the hull. Definitely a much more interesting buy than the Volvo excavator.

Yeah, all about this set screams "display only" and there's not much to indicate it was ever intended for actual playing with. It's unnecessarily large for what it does and not really playable with distribution gearbox and one motor only, and it comes with 18+ branding indicating it's for adults who want to display stuff instead of playing with them. Not that different from UCS cars actually, except they have better manual functions and probably much more interesting building experience, and not motorized pretence of playability. (UCS cars of course also are much better value with their parts/price ratio.) So yeah, if you want a dust collector shelf queen and have way too much money, it might be for you but otherwise there's very little reason to buy this set. I actually find quite a bit to defend about 42146, though it certainly also has it's flaws. But that's a topic for another topic.

The outriggers of 42082 were really slow though.

The black linear actuators were first available in the Cat D11 bulldozer so not new here. Seems that it could've been a nice midrange set, very much a disappointment for a flagship.

Yes they will be noticed even by those who don't build much. Imagine sets from your childhood and compare them to the current ones, would you have become an AFOL if they used practically the same parts palette as back then? I know I wouldn't have. I also noticed the progress during my 25 years of darkness - and remember, I wasn't in any way following new set or part releases, just seeing the sets in the shelves of stores. Not everyone will notice of course, but enough do that TLG can't just retire their parts design department and call the current assortment of available parts "complete". Also, most kids will keep interest in Lego for at least a few years, many even a decade or so, and during that time they definitely would notice lack of new stuff and lose interest and therefore sales, it doesn't really matter that the parents are paying. So the constant design and release process of new parts is there to keep the product fresh, whether in short or longer term. Today it's more important than ever as competitors are numerous and would surpass Lego easily and quickly if there were no new parts releases.

Of course new parts are constantly needed, to keep the product fresh. Every new part (whether a new shape or just colour) opens up some new possibility however small, and the entire brand moves forward with the new parts. This applies to practically every kind of commercial product, stagnation would mean death for the brand and the company.

Thanks, keep us posted on your progress!

So I built 2 sections of each, sorry about the vomitous mass of colours. Upper one is the vertical variant (second in @Bartybum's post) and lower is the horizontal variant. They seem to be equally strong but the horizontal variant was much less annoying to build so I'd prefer that if I were to use these in an actual MOC. They seem to be strong in the direction where diagonal supports work, but less so in the other direction, bending quite easily. The problem seems to be the fact that there's pinholes supporting the structure against bending (either with axle or pin inside) and that gives the chords at the section joint too much play; the middle of each section is stronger (having double pins in each liftarm joint). Also, like Liebherr booms, there's nothing to stop them pulling apart laterally which might contribute to their bendiness. The other problem is torsional rigidity, which is much less than that of the new boom parts in 42146. I think the reason is the lack of diagonal supports in one direction, combided with the play every pin connection inevitably has. In the end it probably comes down to the fact that large solid parts are stiffer and stronger than POOP builds of similar shape and purpose. One thing of note is also that the sections are much longer than the boom sections in 42146, with two of these sections being slightly longer than the 4-section main boom of the Liebherr. I think this could be solved by building separate end section where necessary though. My above analysis might seem quite critical but still I think these are perfectly usable as crane booms, as long as the crane isn't being used to actually lift very heavy loads relative to its height. The horizontal frame variant was easy enough to build and all of the parts are plentiful and cheap so they might very well work as an alternative to the Liebherr parts. Though if you want some serious lifting capacity, the Liebherr parts are a better option.

Ok, I was able to view the photos now. I tried to make much more faithful reproduction of the real suspension, but was unable to make it work as Lego axles are not nearly strong enough to withstand the bending pressures involved. I guess simplification like you did would've been in order, but after working on it for a good while and failing I lost motivation (and considering it was a contest there wouldn't have been enough time to finish the rest of the build anyway). Glad you were able to make a workable simpler version though!

Thanks! I'll try this out tomorrow when I have free time!

For some reason your photos are not showing :( I even tried to follow the link to the original site and it's Onedrive showing the text "This item won't load right now" so maybe there's a problem with file permissions or something?

Looks good from the pictures, I'll see if I have time to do a test build during the weekend. Shouldn't be too hard but takes a bit of time to make multiple segments. Could you make a parts list for easier building?