howitzer

I second this, the rule of having a fourth motor for more power makes the rules needlessly complicated, I think a simple limit on number of motors (3 or 4) is enough, and as long one or more of those are used for the transformation, it should be allowed.

Does it have to be a vehicle? Or would something like, say, a statuette that transforms into another kind of statuette also be acceptable?

That seems nice and is probably the best tool out there for cataloging and managing your collection. I don't think it solves the problem of needing to manually enter all bricks you buy in mixed lots though, which gets really tedious really fast. In my dreams it could be combined with the Universal Lego Sorting Machine by @sqiddster

The BL prices depend entirely on their future usage in sets, but indeed they won't be affordable in there for a long time if they won't become available in B&P. That of course would balance the BL prices too. Hopefully this part will see a lot of usage though.

That's what I'm also putting my hope into. Not going to buy an expensive set just for a few parts, so if they won't appear in B&P, I'll have to wait for them to become affordable in Bricklink, which might take a long time...

If the GBC contest will ever be realized, I'm sure these will find use there. And I hope there would be similar gear racks, but with the teething on the outside rather than inside. So many potential applications I can think of...

Very nice, looks like I'll have to do a shopping spree in B&P when they show up there...

Omg, gotta get those smaller quarter gear racks too, I hope they'll be available in B&P soon. I have no idea where I'd use them but I'm sure something will pop out sooner or later...

And the story is completely different for Technic, where very few colours have good parts availability. I didn't do any sort of database search, but going by gut feeling these are: black, blue, lime, orange, red, white and yellow. Even most of those have some notable gaps.

For hanging stuff on the wall there's of course this part: https://rebrickable.com/parts/67139/technic-panel-3-x-5-with-wall-mount-hole/

Yep, coloured Classic sets would be really great. If single colour in a box is too much to ask, then how about just a few colours which complement each other nicely, like "monochrome box" with black/white/grays, "water garden box" with various blues and greens, "desert box" with tan, dark tan and various sand-colours and so on. As for the colours more generally, I think there are too many. Most colours will never be very useful as the parts palette is severely lacking while building with those colours with nice selection of parts gets repetitive quickly. They should choose a certain core colours (maybe two dozen or so) which get a great selection of parts and stick to those, with the rest of the colours being random accents here and there with no intention of having them used more widely. Few things are more frustrating than finding the perfect part to solve your problem and then finding out that it doesn't exist in correct colour (or is very rare and expensive).

Arctic action was of course done already 35 years ago. Apparently it was not a great success.

For me, everything mentioned previously, and also the fact that even with its occasional issues, Lego is still very high quality product. I almost never need to worry about compatibility or other problems of poor quality, which would make such building very stressful and annoying otherwise. Every time I try to connect two pieces in a way they are intended, they fit and make a good connection. This is absolutely critical for an enjoyable building experience, and it's also something that Lego excels at.

This is something I've been wondering a bit, and the core question is in the title: How do you keep track of the Lego you own, especially the loose parts (not those in a set)? Do you have a meticulous bookkeeping in a spreadsheet/Rebrickable/whatever where you enter every part you acquire and remove every part you sell/break/otherwise lose, accompanied with careful sorting and storage? Or do you just have a feeling of what you own by knowing/remembering most of your collection, building a lot and generally playing with your stuff? Or do you just ignore the whole dilemma by buying more bricks whenever you need something you're not sure if you own it already? I've been putting the sets I've bought and my Bricklink orders into Rebrickable, because that's easy and hassle-free way of keeping track of my Lego, but whenever I buy loose parts elsewhere or used sets where I'm not sure if there's missing parts, it becomes a real headache to keep track of all this. I mean, I could count every part and then enter them to Rebrickable but that's absurd amount of work and not worth the time required. I've been trying real hard to keep track of my Technic collection, as that's relatively limited set of different parts, but even that feels a real chore, and I won't even try with the System parts. This of course becomes a problem when I plan to build something and having several unfinished (or finished) projects going on simultaneously, meaning if I don't immediately find what I'm looking for, I'll have to spend a lot of time in search of those few parts I should have but no idea where, is it in a MOC or is it lost in a mixed bin or do I remember wrong entirely...

Dunno if this is exactly a bargain, but I just bought an assortment of Technic pieces for 54€ from an online auction site, enough to fill a backpack. The sellers were a super-sweet elderly couple, in their 70's or something, who apparently had been Lego enthusiasts from since before the 80's or something, as they had a large collection of old and new sets. They showed me for example 8854 Power Crane and 5580 Highway Rig. They told me that I could come back for more any time, and I just might have to go.

Goddamn that Ice Pop part is expensive. Right now there's a whole total of 11 used ones available in all of Bricklink, which you could get for maybe 100€ (depending on delivery costs) and then there's someone selling them new for 10,75€/piece. Getting them new would be like half of the parts cost of the car right there.

Yes, that's probably true. It would be mostly useful for the GBC people to find quickly the stuff of their specific interest, but not useful for showing stuff to wider audience.

I'm thinking it as a subset of Technic, so a subforum could perhaps be useful but a whole separate section not. But I don't think it's a huge problem as it is.

I'm just sitting here waiting the Dune ornitopter-MOCs to appear. Or maybe I should build one myself...

I've never seen a bicycle with the sprockets and chain on the left side, rather than right. And yeah, the frame looks a bit flimsy, but other than that, great work!

I always found Sariel's reviews very informative and with great showing of the set, but I almost always disagree with him on the conclusions about the set and sometimes it feels that he draws conclusions hastily and without much consideration for explanations or reasoning behind the design choices of the sets. In this regard I find that Racingbrick's reviews are much more in line with how I see the sets. After watching Racingbrick's review, I feel that this set is pretty good, though probably not one that I'm interested in getting. Seems a great set for those who like cars or Batman, but not very interesting in the way of functionality though the engine light feature seemed really cool. I hope that TLG will utilize the light bricks more in the future sets.

Yeah, Finland has one of the highest prices in all of the Eurozone countries but it doesn't affect every set equally. The RRP here for the sets you listed: 80020: 50€ 80022: 130€ 21325: 180€ Usually most sets are something like 10-20€ more expensive than elsewhere in the Eurozone, but there happens to be couple of retailers which sell most sets for significantly below RRP (and I'm not talking about discounts) so in the end it appears that we get similar prices to the Central Europe, as long as we know where to buy.

Yes, there are all kinds of contraptions, but vast majority of the stuff posted in this forum are vehicles, and most of the rest is GBC-related. Kinetic sculptures are another thing made possible by Technic but you don't see those too often either, though they could make for a good contest theme.

I think the main point of having a GBC contest would be the non-vehicle theme. Hopefully that one gets realized some day.

I agree, the contest requires complex and nonstandard mechanisms, so more longer time for building would be very much appreciated. Personally I'm not sure if I'm participating though, I have absolutely no idea what to build...